{"id":296056,"date":"2024-05-17T09:37:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T13:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=296056"},"modified":"2024-05-20T09:58:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T13:58:35","slug":"2024-nakba-commemoration","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/2024-nakba-commemoration\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Nakba Commemoration: “Nakba of 1948 and Today Are Not Separate Events, but Ongoing Process of Palestinian Displacement, Replacement, Speakers Tell Panel, Urging Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fran\u00e7ais<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

17 May 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Nakba of 1948 and today\u2019s Nakba in Gaza are not two separate events, the Chair of the\u00a0United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee told a special event at UN Headquarters in New York today, stressing the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip and to achieve Statehood for Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we again commemorate the events of 1948 and subsequent years, which led to the dispossession and displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians from their ancestral lands,\u201d said\u00a0Cheikh Niang (Senegal), Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, as he opened a panel discussion titled \u201c1948-2024:\u00a0 The Ongoing Palestinian Nakba\u201d.<\/p>\n

After the atrocities committed by Hamas and other militant groups on 7\u00a0October\u00a02023, \u201cthe Israeli response was and continues to be disproportionate and indiscriminate,\u201d he said,\u00a0asserting that\u00a0\u201cbreaches of norms by one group do not excuse breaches of international law and norms by another\u201d. \u00a0Between 1948 and 2024, Israel continued its illegal actions.\u00a0 \u201cThe Nakba, thus, is an ongoing process affecting the Palestinian people over generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State of Palestine has recently been officially recognized by all Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member countries \u2014 an example to follow, he said. \u00a0The international community \u2014 Member States and civil society alike \u2014 must redouble efforts to end the occupation and this ongoing Nakba, he stressed, and finally realize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination and independence as well as a just resolution to the plight of Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n

Also addressing the opening of today\u2019s event was Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, who said that \u201cthe Nakba encompasses both a personal tragedy for every Palestinian family and a collective deed\u201d \u2014 in which most of an entire nation was uprooted overnight from its ancestral land while the rest were treated like strangers in their own country.\u00a0 \u201cThe Nakba is an enterprise of displacement and replacement of people that continues to this very day,\u201d he observed, adding that it took 75 years for the UN to recognize and commemorate it.<\/p>\n

Today, the people in Gaza are besieged, bombed and starved with the aim of their destruction or removal, he said. \u00a0The Israeli Government no longer hides its true intentions of \u201ca second Nakba\u201d, leaving the Palestinians with three options: displacement, subjugation, or deaths \u2014 in other words, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, or genocide, he warned.<\/p>\n

However, there is now universal recognition of the Palestinian people, and soon, it will be matched by universal recognition of the Palestinian State, he said. \u00a0There is a global consensus to end the Israeli occupation, fulfil Palestinian rights, and have two States \u2014 Palestine and Israel \u2014 living side by side.\u00a0 \u201cIt is time for accountability and justice so freedom and peace can be achieved,\u201d he declared, commending the brave students from the United States and all corners of the globe who give voice to the Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n

The Committee then heard a series of poems by Zeina Azzam, a Palestinian-United States writer, poet, editor and community activist, which explored themes of war, displacement and the experiences of refugees and immigrants.\u00a0She said one poem, \u201cWrite My Name\u201d, was written after she learned that some parents in Gaza resorted to writing their children\u2019s names on their legs to help identify them should they be killed.<\/p>\n

In the ensuing panel discussion, Ardi Imseis, Assistant Professor and Academic Director at Queen\u2019s University, Ottawa, spoke of how UN resolution 181 of 29\u00a0November\u00a01947 recommended the partition of Palestine against the will of the country\u2019s indigenous population and in contravention of international law. \u00a0The declared goal of Western States that dominated the United Nations then \u201cwas to rectify Europe\u2019s centuries-old Jewish question in the wake of the Holocaust and to do so at the expense of the innocent third-party Palestinians,\u201d he explained, adding that little to nothing is being done to stop the Nakba by those in a position to do so.<\/p>\n

Echoing that sentiment, Phyllis Bennis, Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, underscored that both Apartheid in South Africa and the Nakba in Palestine were enabled by Western colonial interests, pointing out that the United States is currently \u201cthe main enabler of the current version of the Nakba that is under way in Gaza\u201d.\u00a0 Since the creation of the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d between the Governments of the United States and Israel in 1967, the former has guaranteed the latter absolute impunity \u2014 including at the UN, where Washington, D.C., has used its veto to undermine efforts towards a ceasefire in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2021 and \u201cnow again\u201d.\u00a0 Spotlighting the UN\u2019s role in the struggle against Apartheid, she urged those present to use that model \u201cto be on the right side of history\u201d.<\/p>\n

For her part, Karameh Kuemmerle, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, said that the mission of Doctors against Genocide, which she co-founded,\u00a0goes beyond the mere treatment of medical wounds and involves addressing deep systematic injustices, stressing that \u201cprevention is far superior to treatment\u201d.\u00a0Now trapped in Rafah, her team is treating patients while sleeping on the floor.\u00a0 \u201cTheir commitment is only strengthened by the suffering of the children in Gaza,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Opening Remarks<\/u><\/h3>\n

CHEIKH NIANG (Senegal),\u00a0Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People<\/u>, opened today\u2019s event, titled \u201c1948-2024: \u00a0The Ongoing Palestinian Nakba\u201d.\u00a0 He recalled that the Committee hosted the first-ever UN commemoration of the Nakba to observe its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2023. \u00a0\u201cToday, we again commemorate the events of 1948 and subsequent years, which led to the dispossession and displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians from their ancestral lands,\u201d he said. \u00a0After the atrocities committed by Hamas and other militant groups on 7\u00a0October\u00a02023, \u201cthe Israeli response was and continues to be disproportionate and indiscriminate\u201d.\u00a0 He asserted that \u201cbreaches of norms by one group do not excuse breaches of international law and norms by another\u201d.\u00a0 Calling the development over the past seven months \u201cunparalleled in recent history\u201d, he noted that almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 80,000 injured \u2014 the vast majority women and children. \u00a0\u201cThat is 1 in every 25 Gazans killed,\u201d he deplored.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nakba of 1948 and today\u2019s Nakba in Gaza are not two separate, distinct events,\u201d he said, highlighting Israel\u2019s ongoing actions all that time in between, including occupation and dispossession of Palestinian property, denial of rights, arbitrary arrests including of children, brutal and disproportionate use of force, Judaization of East Jerusalem and its cultural symbols, eviction and displacement of its inhabitants.\u00a0 The Nakba, thus, is an ongoing process affecting the Palestinian people over generations. \u00a0Conflict is spreading in the Middle East, the Security Council appears paralyzed, and Member States are divided. \u00a0Asking what can be done, he urged citizens of their States, civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations, Governments and international organizations to play their part, working together.\u00a0 Within the United Nations, the Committee plays a key role in advocacy, he stressed.<\/p>\n

Noting that the State of Palestine has recently been officially recognized by Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas, he said that all Caribbean Community (CARICOM) members have now done so \u2014 an example to follow.\u00a0 Nobody is above the law, and grave breaches of international law and norms must have consequences.\u00a0 \u201cWe call on the international community \u2014 Member States and civil society alike \u2014 to redouble efforts our efforts to end the occupation, end this ongoing Nakba, and bring to reality the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination and independence and a just resolution to the plight of Palestine refugees,\u201d he said.\u00a0 The Committee will continue to work towards the day that the Palestinian people will enjoy all their inalienable rights and live in a State of their own, in peace and prosperity, based on a two-State solution, he pledged.<\/p>\n

RIYAD MANSOUR,\u00a0Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine<\/u>, said that \u201cthe Nakba encompasses both a personal tragedy for every Palestinian family and a collective deed\u201d.\u00a0 It is a historic injustice endured by an entire nation, a majority of which was uprooted overnight from its ancestral land while the rest were treated like strangers in their own country.\u00a0 \u201cThe Nakba is an enterprise of displacement and replacement of people that continues to this very day,\u201d he said, adding that it took 75 years for the UN to recognize and commemorate it.\u00a0 Moreover, he emphasized, it is a terrible reality still endured by the Palestinian people, \u201cas Israel has yet to abandon its plans to push us out of history and geography\u201d.\u00a0 The people in Gaza are besieged, bombed and starved with the aim of their destruction or removal.\u00a0 The Israeli Government no longer hides its true intentions of \u201ca second Nakba\u201d, leaving the Palestinians with three options: displacement, subjugation, or deaths \u2014 in other words, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, or genocide.<\/p>\n

However, he underscored that there is now universal recognition of the Palestinian people, and soon, it will be matched by universal recognition of the Palestinian State.\u00a0 There is a global consensus to end the Israeli occupation, fulfil Palestinian rights, and have two States \u2014 Palestine and Israel \u2014 living side by side.\u00a0\u201cIt is time for accountability and justice so freedom and peace can be achieved,\u201d he declared, stressing that Gaza is composed mainly of refugees who endured the Nakba and must live through it once again.\u00a0 \u201cEnough pain, enough suffering \u2014 it is time to end the occupation and exodus and save the generations to come from death, servitude, and displacement,\u201d he said, commending the brave students from the United States and all corners of the globe who give voice to the Palestinian cause.\u00a0 Palestine has become a symbol of all freedom- and peace-loving nations.\u00a0 \u201cPalestine\u2019s destiny was, is and will always be freedom,\u201d he stated, adding: \u00a0\u201cEnd injustice and free Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poetry Reading<\/u><\/h3>\n

The Committee then heard a series of poems by ZEINA AZZAM, a\u00a0Palestinian-United States writer, poet, editor and community activist<\/u>, which explored themes of war, displacement and the experiences of refugees and immigrants.<\/p>\n

In the first, titled \u201cMy Father is Now a Memory\u201d, she wrote of her father, searching for Palestine in the figs and roses in his garden that now mourn for him \u2014 \u201che loved us, we loved him\u201d, they say.\u00a0 \u201cMy father yearned for the homeland he saw again only once in 50 years,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0 \u201cWe should never have left,\u201d he would say \u2014 but he might have been killed had he stayed, she said.\u00a0 And, then, perhaps she would never have been born \u2014 \u201ca fig tree cut down, a fig imagined\u201d.\u00a0Her father bought 15 roses the day before he died, she remembered, but planted only three.\u00a0 The others were given away, she said, where they will yearn for him, planted far from home, \u201crefugees in diaspora\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cHe loved us, we loved him,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

The next poem \u2014 \u201cWrite My Name\u201d \u2014 was written after learning that some parents in Gaza resorted to writing their children\u2019s names on their legs to help identify them should they be killed, she said.\u00a0 \u201cWrite my name on my leg, Mama,\u201d she wrote, \u201cand on the legs of my sisters and brothers \u2014 this way we will belong together, this way we will be known as your children\u201d.\u00a0 The last stanza read:\u00a0 \u201cWrite my name on my leg, Mama.\u00a0 When the bomb hits our house, when the walls crush our skulls and bones, our legs will tell the story \u2014 how there was nowhere for us to run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting the centrality of the concept of\u00a0khayr<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 or \u201cgoodness\u201d \u2014 to Arab culture, she turned to her next poem, titled by that word, and observed:\u00a0 \u201cHow lovely it is that one of the major touchstones of our lives is the idea of goodness.\u201d\u00a0 Recalling that \u2014 no matter the misfortune \u2014 her mother was \u201csure Allah would eventually bring\u00a0khayr<\/em>\u00a0to Palestine\u201d, she said that\u00a0khayr<\/em>\u00a0resides in Palestine\u2019s bones, \u201cfrom morning til night, in a mother\u2019s kiss at bedtime, deep in a farmer\u2019s land \u2014 there, the roots of\u00a0khayr<\/em>\u00a0multiply in the earth, goodness bristling\u201d.<\/p>\n

She then recalled the words of Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet, who once said:\u00a0 \u201cEvery beautiful poem is an act of resistance.\u201d\u00a0 Inspired by the colours of the Palestinian flag \u2014 and how it has been illegal to display them \u2014 she said that her final poem, \u201cColours for the Diaspora\u201d, can be read as an elegy to those displaced and dispossessed of their home, \u201csearching for the colours of their land and struggling for the liberation of Palestine\u201d.\u00a0 Noting the silver stars of her ancestors traveling a displaced orbit in a blue-black night around a lost sun, she said they repeat:\u00a0 \u201cWhen will we see the colours of our land, when will we land?\u201d<\/p>\n

Panel Discussion<\/u><\/h3>\n

The Committee then held a panel discussion, titled \u201c1948-2024: \u00a0The Ongoing Palestinian Nakba.\u201d<\/p>\n

ARDI IMSEIS,\u00a0Assistant Professor and Academic Director at Queen\u2019s University, Ottawa<\/u>, said that \u201cit is exceedingly difficult to speak about the Nakba in a manner that sufficiently captures the enormity of the Palestinian predicament\u201d. \u00a0What the Palestinian people have been enduring for three-quarters of a century is a singular experience of an unmitigated disaster of the sustained and concerted effort to do away with their collective and national existence in their native land. \u00a0The Nakba is \u201ca structure, not an event\u201d. \u00a0Yet, little to nothing is being done to stop it by those in a position to do so. \u00a0A small number of Western States and political elites led by the United States are actively colluding, he said, stressing: \u00a0\u201cThese Western States have fashioned all manner of Orwellian justifications for their collusion with the Nakba in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

Turning to \u201cthe fateful decision made by the then Western-dominated General Assembly\u201d to recommend the partition of Palestine against the will of the country\u2019s indigenous population through resolution 181 of 29\u00a0November\u00a01947, he pointed out that a review of the terms of the partition plan and the accompanying UN record recounted in his recently published book titled\u00a0The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: \u00a0Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity<\/em>\u00a0reveals that the plan was illegal under prevailing international law. \u00a0The terms of that plan revealed an absolute contempt for the principle of self-determination of Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Partition was not based on international legal considerations, he stressed. \u00a0Rather, it was driven by hegemonic European States and their settler colonial affiliates for political reasons.\u00a0 \u201cThe declared goal of these States was to rectify Europe\u2019s centuries-old Jewish question in the wake of the Holocaust and to do so at the expense of the innocent third-party Palestinians,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Gross and systematic violations of relevant international law have since continued for almost eight decades, compounded by myriad actions of Israel, administrative, legislative, judicial, and now military.\u00a0 As noted by the UN Secretary-General on 25\u00a0October, the events of 7\u00a0October did not happen in a vacuum.<\/p>\n

KARAMEH KUEMMERLE,\u00a0Assistant Professor and M.D., Harvard Medical School<\/u>, a co-founder of Doctors against Genocide, said the Nakba is the catastrophe of the Palestinian people, \u201ca word that does not do justice to the ongoing complete denial of their human rights and self-determination\u201d.\u00a0A culmination of the settler-colonial legacy in their homeland, this genocide is a disease with many symptoms \u2014 mass killing, mass expulsion, forced eviction, unlawful settlement, land confiscation, pogroms and detention.\u00a0 \u201cI am a clinician and, as clinicians, we diagnose,\u201d she said, noting the failure to formally recognize the Nakba as genocide despite meeting all the criteria of clear intent, organization, and preparation for the crime.\u00a0 This includes arming militias with the explicit purpose of carrying out atrocities, as documented in declassified Israeli archives.\u00a0She also highlighted that the international community\u2019s complicity in legitimizing these heinous acts \u201chas only empowered the perpetrators\u201d.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, she continued, the international community rewarded the perpetrators by recognizing their State.\u00a0 In this regard, South Africa\u2019s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice aims to ensure that the perpetrators of the Nakba are finally held accountable.\u00a0 She further underlined that proposals such as the two-State solution faced opposition from Israel, which views the Palestinians as \u201csecurity or demographic threats\u201d. \u00a0\u201cThey demanded re-education of the Palestinians and constant reassurance of permanent security from us while our people were the ones violated, violently abused, and marginalized,\u201d she said, adding that \u201csome stated that the illegal settlements were needed for the Israeli security\u201d. \u00a0The mission of Doctors Against Genocide goes beyond the mere treatment of medical wounds and involves addressing deep systematic injustices that prevent healing and peace, she said, stressing that \u201cprevention is far superior to treatment\u201d.\u00a0Now trapped in Rafah, some of her team is treating patients while sleeping on the floor \u2014 however, she said, \u201ctheir commitment is only strengthened by the suffering of the children in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

PHYLLIS BENNIS,\u00a0Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies<\/u>, recalled that 1948 saw the birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.\u00a0However, it also gave rise to Apartheid in South Africa and the Nakba in Palestine.\u00a0 \u201cInstead of an era of human rights, we saw a continuation of the era of settler colonialism,\u201d she said.\u00a0 Both Apartheid and the Nakba were enabled by Western colonial interests and, while South Africa and Namibia are now free, she pointed out that the United States is currently \u201cthe main enabler of the current version of the Nakba that is under way in Gaza\u201d.\u00a0 The United States is \u201carming genocide\u201d through its provision of both military aid and \u201cabsolute impunity\u201d to Israel, she stressed, noting that three times as many people have been killed in Gaza than during the original Nakba in 1948 and that almost the entirety of the Strip\u2019s infrastructure has been destroyed.<\/p>\n

She went on to note that, since the creation of the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d between the Governments of the United States and Israel in 1967, the former has guaranteed the latter absolute impunity \u2014 including at the UN, where the United States has used its veto to undermine efforts towards a ceasefire in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2021. \u00a0\u201cNow, again, the US has said \u2018we don\u2019t need a ceasefire yet\u2019,\u201d she added.\u00a0Underscoring that the specific intent contemplated by the Genocide Convention has repeatedly been made clear by Israeli officials \u2014 to wipe Gaza off the face of the Earth, to bring it back to the Stone Age, that they were \u201cdealing with animals and not people\u201d \u2014 she emphasized:\u00a0 \u201cThey weren\u2019t worried about these statements because they knew they had the protection of the United States.\u201d \u00a0South Africa, however, said to the world that \u201cthe institutions largely created in the interests of colonial countries\u201d in the post-Second World War moment \u201ccould now themselves be claimed\u201d by once-colonized countries.<\/p>\n

This was a victory even before the almost-unanimous ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel\u2019s actions are \u201cpossibly genocidal\u201d, she stressed, noting that those actions were first welcomed by the President of the United States \u201cwith a bear hug and with more weapons\u201d.\u00a0 While the United States \u201cis now more complicit in this genocide than it has ever been before\u201d, she pointed out that \u2014 this time \u2014 there are consequences.\u00a0 Public opinion has shifted across the United States in an unprecedented manner, where the re-election of an official is now threatened because that official is perceived as being too supportive of Israel.\u00a0 Yet, while the White House\u2019s rhetoric has shifted, this has not translated into accepting the need for ceasefire.\u00a0 Spotlighting the UN\u2019s role in the struggle against Apartheid, she urged those present to use that model \u201cto be on the right side of history\u201d.<\/p>\n

Question and Answer Session<\/u><\/h3>\n

When the floor opened for comments and questions, the representatives of several Member States expressed support for Palestinians and joined the call to stop a new Nakba.<\/p>\n

The representative of\u00a0South Africa<\/u>\u00a0said Israel\u2019s actions in Rafah \u2014 part of its end game to destroy Gaza completely \u2014 are evidence of its genocidal intent. \u00a0Calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, she warned that the evacuation zones that Israel has ordered the people to go to are basically \u201cthe extermination zones\u201d. \u00a0\u201cRafah is the last stage of the total annihilation of Palestinian life,\u201d she said, adding: \u00a0\u201cWithout Rafah, the possibility to rebuild and reconstruct Palestinian life will be lost forever\u201d.<\/p>\n

The speaker for\u00a0China<\/u>\u00a0said that the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people \u201chas not been rectified, but rather accelerated\u201d, urging Israel to heed the strong voices of the international community. \u00a0The speaker for\u00a0Indonesia<\/u>\u00a0expressed regret that 76 years on, the question of the Palestinian refugees remains unresolved, stating that \u201cwe even see now growing resistance to recognizing their basic rights and their rights of return\u201d.<\/p>\n

The representative of the\u00a0League of Arab States<\/u>\u00a0stressed that the international community\u2019s primary mission is to prevent a new Nakba, which aims to displace Palestinians out of Gaza into countries in the region.\u00a0 Stressing the need to explore mechanisms to prevent it, he thanked all Member States that supported the recent\u00a0General Assembly\u00a0resolution towards the eventual admission of Palestine as a fully-fledged member of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Also speaking were the delegates of Malaysia, Pakistan and T\u00fcrkiye, as well as some civil society organizations.<\/p>\n

Mr. MANSOUR, re-taking the floor and recalling the General Assembly\u2019s adoption of a resolution commemorating the Nakba, said it acknowledged \u2014 after 75 years \u2014 \u201cthat there is a Nakba that has been inflicted on the Palestinian people\u201d.\u00a0 He also recalled a cultural performance, held in the Assembly Hall, where Palestinian and other musicians displayed the story of the Nakba in four movements \u2014 life before, during and after that horror, as well as \u201cthe resiliency of the Palestinian people and their determination to continue their struggle for the attainment of their inalienable rights\u201d.\u00a0 He urged those wishing to hold this performance in their own countries to do so.\u00a0He added that \u201cwe will not rest for a moment until we succeed in having an immediate ceasefire\u201d, which will save lives, provide needed humanitarian aid and \u201cnot allow the fascist Israeli Government to storm Rafah\u201d.<\/p>\n

The floor also opened for members of civil society to pose questions to the panellists.\u00a0 A representative of the\u00a0Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church<\/u>\u00a0asked the Committee \u2014 given the urgency of the situation \u2014 what steps the UN can take towards an arms embargo, enforcing compliance with the ruling of the International Court of Justice and banking sanctions \u2014 \u201csomething very powerful used in the anti-Apartheid struggle\u201d.<\/p>\n

A speaker representing a delegation of rabbis then took the floor to point out that \u201cJews have always been able to live amongst Arabs and Muslims\u201d and to condemn those who \u201cuse the fa\u00e7ade of my religion \u2014 that my grandparents died in Auschwitz for \u2014 as a stick to stifle those opposing stealing the homes of Palestinians\u201d.\u00a0 Recalling that those who opposed Apartheid were called \u201cterrorists\u201d, he underscored that this occupation \u2014 like Apartheid \u2014 will end so people \u201ccan live and serve God together in freedom\u201d.\u00a0 Ms. AZZAM\u2019s niece, noting social-media posts about what Israel is planning for the future of Gaza, then asked what that future should look like.<\/p>\n

Another speaker \u2014 representing\u00a0Doctors Against Genocide<\/u>\u00a0\u2014 said that the reason for the current genocide is that the international community \u201cnever addressed the original sin\u201d.\u00a0 Instead, in the same month that the UN recognized genocide as an international crime, it turned a blind eye to the Nakba.\u00a0 He then asked what it would take for the UN to create a special body to restudy the Nakba as an act of genocide to both hold perpetrators accountable and strengthen the case currently before the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n

As the panellists re-took the floor to respond, Ms. AZZAM \u2014 answering the question of what to do now \u2014 underscored: \u201cKeep Palestine at the top of the agenda.\u201d\u00a0 She also urged those present to look at Palestine not only as a place of conflict, but one with a rich history, culture and heritage.<\/p>\n

Mr. IMSEIS noted the inflection point in international relations, modern history and the UN that pits a small number of Western States \u201cthat carry the torch of neo-imperialism\u201d against everyone else.\u00a0 To the former, \u201csome rights, some States and some peoples remain more equal than others\u201d, he said, while noting that States have many legal bases on which to act \u2014 including economic, cultural, civil, political and social.\u00a0 Adding that \u201cthese are the five heads of human rights\u201d, he urged States to use them to ensure that their bilateral and multilateral relations with Israel send the message: \u201cWe will not stand for these actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. KUEMMERLE pointed out that \u201cwhat is happening now is a new paradigm for this generation to correct global injustices together\u201d. The situation in Palestine is energizing many who have never been activists, and this will make the world a better place for everyone.\u00a0 Recalling that so many changes of which humanity can be proud were achieved because people mobilized, she said: \u201cPeople make their Governments do things.\u201d\u00a0 Now, as people are demanding change and a better world, their Governments must oblige.<\/p>\n

Ms. BENNIS, stressing that it is not enough to call for ceasefire, urged: \u201cStop sending weapons.\u201d\u00a0 On Palestine\u2019s future, she said that it is the Palestinian diaspora, those in refugee camps and those in the Occupied Palestinian Territory who must make that call. \u201cDo not allow the United States decision to pull out its funding to mean that UNRWA cannot survive,\u201d she said, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and calling for taking the place of countries that criminally refuse to pay.\u00a0 She also emphasized that the UN does not belong to capitals, corporations or the United States \u2014 \u201cit belongs to the people of the world\u201d.\u00a0 Thus, when such people call for immediate ceasefire, it is up to the UN to be part of the mobilization that makes that happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fran\u00e7ais 17 May 2024 The Nakba of 1948 and today\u2019s Nakba in Gaza are not two separate events, the Chair of the\u00a0United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee told a special event at UN Headquarters in New York today, stressing the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip and to achieve Statehood for Palestinians. \u201cToday, we […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[759,885,960,1035,1593,1101,1128,1182],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1753,2173,1365],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,1829,2265,2005,1741,6816,1749,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542,6541],"class_list":["post-296056","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-china","country-indonesia","country-malaysia","country-pakistan","country-palestine-state-of","country-senegal","country-south-africa","country-turkiye","document-category-press-release","document-source-ceirpp","document-source-division-for-palestinian-rights-dpr","document-source-general-assembly","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-nakba","document-subject-palestine-question","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english","document-language-french"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/296056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/296056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296063,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/296056\/revisions\/296063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=296056"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=296056"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=296056"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=296056"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=296056"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=296056"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=296056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}