Baroud in Al Jazeera: Time to Reclaim International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

• November 29, 2016, 7:10 pm

Palestinian author and journalist, Ramzy Baroud argued in a piece published today in Al Jazeera that the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People must be reclaimed by civil society and people everywhere.

“Although November 29 has galvanized pro-Palestinian communities around the world for decades, a few facts and problems about this day must be acknowledged and redressed,” he wrote.

“To start with, the history behind that specific date is quite an ominous one. Palestine was partitioned, unjustly, on November 29, 1947. There was no moral or legal basis for that partition, as communicated in UN resolution 181 (II), into a ‘Jewish State’ and an ‘Arab State’.

“The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was designated to be a day of solidarity almost exactly 30 years after the partition plan took place. It was announced in successive resolutions, firstly in December 1977 (Res. 32/40 B) and, secondly, more substance to that resolution was added in December 1979 (Res. 34/65 D).

“These resolutions crowned 30 years of unmitigated failure on the part of the international community to aid in the establishment of a Palestinian state, which was even unsuccessful in imposing any form of punishment on the 30-year-old “Jewish State” for repeatedly violating international law and every legal principle upon which it was established.”

In his piece, Baroud, who is also the Editor of PalestineChronicle.com, protested what he called the validation of an unelected Palestinian leadership by the UN, which continues to perpetuate the two-state solution myth.

“While the day is meant as a day of solidarity with the ‘Palestinian people’, it has served, at an official UN level, as a day of validating the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, which has neither a popular nor legal democratic mandate to represent the Palestinian people.

“The current Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, has been ruling with an expired mandate since 2009. Duly, his government was neither elected through proper elections nor a referendum.

“However, every November 29 of every year, PA officials and diplomats fan out around the globe to speak about Palestinian victimization, imploring international solidarity, while the PA is practically taking part in denying Palestinians their aspirations. “

Answering the question, ‘what can be done?’ to give November 29 greater value and meaning, Dr. Baroud offered a few ideas, among them:

“Civil society around the world can lead the mobilization to use the day of solidarity as an opportunity to place pressure on their governments to move beyond symbolic gestures into meaningful action. This effort is most important in Western societies, especially in the United States, which has served as a shield and benefactor for Israel for too many years.”

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