International Seminar on the Question of Palestine and Peace in the Middle East
The Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and the Peace in the Middle East MPPM) held on June 2, in the Auditorium Armando Guebuza of Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, in Lisbon, an International Seminar on "The Question of Palestine and the Peace in the Middle East".
On the occasion, visited us at the invitation of our Movement, a delegation of the United Nations composed of Ambassador Abdou Salam Diallo, Ambassador of Senegal to the United Nations and Chairman of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN, and by Mrs. Eleonore Kopera, responsible for the Political Affairs at the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations.
In the morning, the delegation of the United Nations was received in the Parliament by members from all parliamentarian groups, to whom it explained the work of the UN in defense of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people - self-determination; independence and sovereignty; return of refugees with recovery of their properties -, commented on the present situation and the risk of the settlement expansion derailing the two-state solution advocated by the United Nations, and called on Portugal to support the admission of Palestine to the United Nations.
The seminar, held in the afternoon, was directed by the President of MPPM, actress and theater director Maria do Céu Guerra, and the participants were greeted by the Dean of the University, Prof. Mário Moutinho.
General Ramalho Eanes, former President of the Republic, sent a message that was read by Maria do Céu Guerra.
Intervened, then: Ambassador Abdou Salam Diallo; Ambassador Riyad Mansour; Dr. Silas Cerqueira, Investigator and Secretary for International Relations of the MPPM; Prof. Dr. Pedro Pereira Leite, Professor at Universidade Lusófona and Investigator at CES, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra; Colonel Carlos Matos Gomes, Army Official in reserve and José Manuel Goulão, Journalist.
Dr. Carlos Almeida, researcher and member of the National Directorate of MPPM, closed the works by reading the following statement:
On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 providing for the creation of two states in Palestine under the British mandate territory: an Arab state and a Jewish state. A few months later, was proclaimed the State of Israel. But six and a half decades later, the Palestinians are still awaiting the recognition of their independent state.
Throughout sixty-five years followed up massacres, ethnic cleansing, destruction of houses and fields, plunder, wars. Israel occupied the whole of Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries. Millions of Palestinians today comprise the largest refugee community in the world, in many cases living in miserable conditions. Promises, business processes, agreements ensued. UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions pledged respect for the national rights of the Palestinian people and the return of refugees. But these resolutions remained on paper. On the Palestinian side were made concessions on concessions. The right to existence and security of the State of Israel was recognized. It was accepted that the future Palestinian state would only occupy one fifth of the territory of Palestine. But not even so did the Palestinian state emerge. With the permanent connivance of the United States and other major powers, Israel continues the occupation and the building of new settlements in the occupied territory. Despite the condemnation of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Israel lifted the shameful apartheid wall that divides the Palestinian territories. The military assault on the civilian population of Gaza in 2008 clearly shows that to power in Israel, barbaric violence is the only way to "dialogue." Thousands of Palestinians are still imprisoned in Israeli jails, including parliamentarians and political leaders. The recent hunger strike, which imposed a setback to the government of Israel, faced a general wall of silence in the so called "international community", and the situation of Palestinian prisoners, despite the imposed setback, continues to claim the world's attention, by violating all humanitarian norms of international law.
In 2011, the Palestinian Authority sought that Palestine be accepted as a full member of the United Nations. The announcement by the U.S. that it would use its right of veto prevented any approval in the Security Council. The consideration of the case in the General Assembly drags on with no end in sight. Today there is not even the fiction of a negotiation process. The stagnation in seeking a solution to the Palestinian question contradicts the spirit in which was created the United Nations Organization and the principles of its Charter.
The situation of the Palestinian people is an affront to all humanity, to international law, to the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination. But it is also a threat to peace in the entire region, as evidenced by six and a half decades of history. There can be no peace in the Middle East without a just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question. Nor will there be just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue without peace in the Middle East. The current escalation of threats, open or covert aggression, betting on acts of war, will only lead to the drama that the Palestinian people live for decades becoming the drama of all the peoples of the region. As has been proven by the facts, with each new war, more countries are destroyed, lives cut short, refugee camps are filled, and the problems that allegedly motivate them, far from being resolved, only get worse. It is imperative and urgent to halt the rush to war and aggression, and the appetites of imperialist domination over the region and its vast energy resources.
The Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and Peace in the Middle East (MPPM), following the International Seminar on "The Question of Palestine and the Peace in the Middle East", which it organized in Lisbon on June 2, 2012,
• appeals to the Portuguese people and their social and political organizations, to raise their voice in defense of peace in the Middle East, the political solution of the conflicts, the satisfaction of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, redoubling their solidarity at all levels .
• demands that the Portuguese government meets the constitutional requirements to which it is bound and defend the principles of peaceful coexistence, the refusal of war in international relations, respect for the sovereignty of all countries. In particular, demands that the Portuguese government - which now occupies a seat on the UN Security Council - vote for the recognition of Palestine as a UN member-state and promote, in all forums, a coherent and consistent policy favorable to full accomplishment of the national rights of the Palestinian people and peace in the Middle East.
Sábado, 2 Junho, 2012 - 00:00
