Big Day for Palestine 11/29

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TOMORROW
Arjan El Fassed

Tomorrow, 29 November 2000, we observe the International Day of Solidarity
with the Palestinian People. On this day, 53 years ago, the General
Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution 181(II), which came to be
known as the Partition Resolution. That resolution provided for the
establishment of a "Jewish State" and an "Arab State", in Palestine, with
Jerusalem as a corpus separatum under a special international régime. Of
the two States intended by this resolution, only one, Israel, has come into
being.

The Palestinian people, who now number almost eight million, live in the
Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, in the 1948-area what
became known as Israel; in refugee camps in neighbouring Arab states and in
exile in other parts of the world.

Tomorrow is just another day that provides us with the opportunity to
remind the world the fact that the question of Palestine is still
unresolved and that the Palestinian people is yet to attain and exercise
its inalienable rights as defined by the General Assembly namely, the right
to self-determination without external interference, the right to national
independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and
property from which they had been displaced. Full respect for and the
realization of these inalienable rights of the Palestinian people are
indispensable for the solution of the question of Palestine.

In late September 2000, the visit by Israeli war criminal Ariel Sharon to
the holy site of Al-Haram al-Sharif and the following Israel's excessive
and disproportionate violent agression against the Palestinian people,
killing 280 Palestinians and wounded more than 8000. Once again we are
reminded that peace does not come without justice. Once again we are
reminded that no peace will be just and durable when it is not based on a
foundation of universal human rights and international law, that is built
on morality and ethical conduct.

We are also reminded that Israel continues to ignore United Nations
resolutions that call for the end of occupation and the full implementation
of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. As long as the
international community refuses to take action on behalf of the
Palestinians, a just and long lasting peace cannot be established.

The UN Human Rights Committee noted that self-determination was a crucial
principle of collective human rights. In its general comment on
Self-Determination adopted in 1984, the Committee emphasised that the
realisation of the right of self-determination "was an essential condition
for the effective guarantee and observance of individual human rights".

The right to self-determination can not be given away, being a
non-negotiable human right recognised in order to enhance economic, social,
cultural, political and civil rights. Autonomy is a concept repugnant to
the exercise of the right of self-determination of peoples.

The principle of self-determination of peoples was expressly included in
the UN Charter, by article 1(2). The Palestinians had not acquired their
independent nationhood at the conclusion of the British Mandate and the
transfer of the Question of Palestine to the UN in 1948. Their right to
self-determination had not been abrogated or dissolved at that time. On the
contrary, it became active, in possession, and awaits implementation. 

The Oslo Accords could never derogate from the right to self-determination
which asserts the right of the Palestinian people to freely decide on their
own political, economic, social and cultural status. UNGA 2767 adopted on 8
December 1970 "recognises that the people of Palestine are entitled to
equal rights and self-determination in accordance with the Charter of the
UN." This was reaffirmed more strongly in UNGA 2787 of 6 December 1971.

The existence of large numbers of Palestinian refugees impedes the exercise
of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. The right of
self-determination is seriously impaired if the majority of the people
concerned are unable to return to their homes from which they were forced
to fled. 

The unique nature of the West Bank and Gaza situation is Israel's
occupation and the question of how it is to be juxtaposted with the
Palestinian right of self-determination. That is where the right of
self-defence is considered. Such a right is not identical with state's
security. Security is a political and military interest which Israel has in
common with all other states. It is the reason advanced for Israel's
refusal to withdraw from occupied Palestine. Self-defence and security are
not identical, either in nature or content. It is not a claim that Israel
is exercising its inherent legal right of self-defence by its continued
occupation of Palestine. Such a claim would not correspond with the facts
of the present situation.

The continued occupation by Israel is not proportionate to the threat to
it. The response of Israel is excessive and the threat not immediate. The
present Israeli response of force, i.e. by remaining in occupied Palestine,
would require to be justified, in fact and in law. Israel's reliance upon
its "security" is an attempt to equate a political aspiration with a legal
right. A belligerent occupation which rests solely on the "security" of
Israel cannot be considered to oust the legal right of self-determination
of the Palestinian people. Security may be a political interest and
bargaining counter, but it is not a legal basis for Israel's continued
occupation of Palestine.

Through the intifada the Palestinians have challenged the violations of
their basic liberties and rights by the occupation. It reflected the
Palestinians' total rejection of the disruptive and abusive policies of the
occupation. Final and interim status negotiations should not become a
rescue mission to save the oppressor from the consequences of his actions,
nor should a nation's sovereignty be held hostage to the political
manipulations and priorities of its oppressor. Any agreement that
relinquishes the inalienable and legitimate rights of the Palestinians will
be unreliable and will have no legal status. 

It was easy to make the Palestinians pay for 2,000 years of persecution.
The Palestinians have felt the enormous power of this vengeance, were not
the historical oppressors of the Jews. They did not put them in ghettoes
and did not force them to wear yellow stars. They did not plan holocausts.
But they had one fault. They were weak and defenseless in the face of real
military might, so they were the ideal victims for an abstract revenge. 

The West has a mean attitude that cannot be disputed, even meaner are those
who demand that we keep quiet and give this peace process yet another
chance. We cannot deny that the US is today the world's only superpower, we
also cannot deny that nations have their own will and if they are
incompetent militarily they are still able to express themselves by other
means. If governments to choose to remain silent, this should not be the
case with the people of these countries.

Utrecht, 28 November 2000