The 2007 annual observance in Kuala Lumpur of
the International Day of Solidarity with the
Palestinian People was organized by the
Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at
their office in Jalan Wisma Putra.
Datuk Joseph Salang, the Deputy Foreign Minister
was present to read our Prime Minister’s message
for the occasion and Puan Daratul Baida Osman
Khairuddin, the Assistant Resident
Representative, United Nations Development
Programme, read the message from
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban
Ki-moon.
Also present was Mr. Abdelaziz Aboughosh,
Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia who read his
own speech, in which among others he stressed
that Palestinians needed stronger support and
solidarity from international community to
ensure and guarantee that the final outcome from
the peace negotiations with Israel would be the
establishments of an independent Palestine state
with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The called for an annual observance of an
International Day of Solidarity with the
Palestinian People on 29 November each year, was
made by the UN General Assembly in 1977. Since
then, in accordance with mandates given by the
General Assembly in its resolutions 32/40 B of 2
December 1977, the UN Committee on the Exercise
of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People and the Division for Palestinian Rights
has continue to organise special activities,
exhibits or cultural events on 29 November to
commemorate the day.
The date was chosen because of its meaning and
significance to the Palestinian people. On 29
November 1947, the General Assembly adopted
Resolution 181 (II) – The Partition Resolution.
It provided for the establishments in Palestine
of a “Jewish State” and an “Arab State”, with
Jerusalem as a corpus separatum under a
special international regime. To this day, only
one state has been established while the other
continues to suffer indignities and violence
under occupation and conflicts.
The fact that the question of Palestine is still
unresolved after 60 years and that the
Palestinians have been deprived of their
inalienable rights, especially their right to
self-determination as defined by the General
Assembly, has time and again swiped at the
credibility of the UN and the sincerity of
negotiators of a host of peace process or
treaties over the years.
According to Mr Ban Ki-moon, “Palestinian
society has been increasingly fragmented –
territorially, by settlements, land
expropriation and the barrier in the occupied
Palestinian territory; socially and
economically, by closure; and politically,
between Gaza and the West Bank.”
For 60 years, the Palestinians have held hope
and hung tight to their dream of statehood.
When it will become a reality depends on us, and
the rest of the world.
