Press Releases
For over a century, colonial states have been manipulating the people and the land of Palestine, for their own gain – against our will and at the expense of our inalienable right to self-determination. Today, once again, without consulting with the Palestinian people or considering our rights or will, colonial states, such as the USA, EU, UK, Germany and others, are proposing management plans for a post-ceasefire Gaza.
Colonial states’ interference and manipulation of the Palestinian people, our rights and our land are immoral, illegal, unacceptable and offensive. The Palestinian people are the only holders of the right to exercise self-determination over the land of Palestine. Any states that have interfered, manipulated and marginalized our rights are complicit in Israeli crimes, including the denial of our right to self-determination.
In 1922, the League of Nations imposed the British Mandate for Palestine, incorporating the principles of the Balfour Declaration (1917), directly opposing the Palestinian people’s rights and will.
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Partition Plan for Palestine through Resolution 181 (II). Ignoring Palestinian rights and violating international law, Palestinians and the Arab States rejected the division of Palestine into 3 sections: an internationally administered Jerusalem, 56 percent allocated for a “Jewish homeland” and 43 percent for an “Arab state”.
While the partition of Palestine never materialized in accordance with the UNGA devised plan, it did serve as a green light for the Zionist movement to proceed with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. This occurred through military plans drafted years before and carried out by the Zionist militias following the withdrawal of British presence and the adoption of the Partition Plan. As a result, over 750,000 Palestinians became refugees and at least 40,000 became internally displaced inside the newly created Israeli state.
In 1967, having failed to establish the “Arab State”, the same colonial states continued to support the expansion of their colonial ally Israel, and undermined any potential action by the UN and its agencies. This resulted in another 400,000 Palestinians being displaced, half of them for a second time. Since then, the UN and its agencies became a platform to manage the conflict – not resolve it - while Israel extended its colonial-apartheid regime to the newly occupied Palestinian territory.
At this point, the Israel regime had control over the whole of Mandatory Palestine and displaced 67 percent of the Palestinian people. Instead of acknowledging its complicity and supporting Palestinian liberation and independence, in 1977, the international community deemed 29 November - the day of the adoption of the Partition Plan - as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In 1993, the colonial states once again decided for the Palestinian people that the solution must be a two-state solution, and proceeded to divide Palestinian land (again). Fragmenting the Palestinian people even further, the Oslo Accords restricted more Palestinian rights, failed to address the issue of refugees and ignored Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. In essence, the Accords are another tool provided by colonial states to legitimize the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime, and allow it to continue expansion of its colonies and forcibly displace Palestinians.
During the 30 years of “peace process” that followed the Accords, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip (2007), built the Apartheid Wall and waged multiple wars – including the current genocidal one against Gaza – with international support and impunity. The UN and colonial states despite their so-called endorsement of a two-state solution, continue to give Israel free rein to destroy, kill and displace Palestinians, making their own two-state ‘solution’ not only impossible to achieve but also a farce.
Today, the USA, UK, EU, Germany and multiple other states - while continuing to provide lip service to the two-state solution - are pushing their own agendas for the management of a ‘post-ceasefire Gaza Strip’. At the same time, they claim to be against displacement, but have repeatedly refused an unconditional ceasefire, the only action that would stop the genocide and prevent further displacement.
In all of these situations, colonial states have been exerting their foreign domination and manipulating international platforms such as the League of Nations and the UN to make decisions about and for the Palestinian people. Their decisions not only contradict international law, as they completely ignore the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to self-determination and return, they are also designed to embolden, protect and provide impunity for their ally - the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime.
Colonial states’ machinations over the last century constitute complicity in the Ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people, who are the only holders of the right to self-determination, which covers defining the future of Palestine, including the Gaza Strip.