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Israel Criticized Sharply at the UN in Vienna

Note: I will publish the other speeches given during the event in follow-up articles.

See more photos [1]

Tuesday, 1 December 2009 at 4 PM: “The Israeli government has taken a position in president [2]complete denial and retreat from all of the commitments that had reached with previous Israeli governments, There is also serious acceleration of the settlements policies and attempts to judaize Jerusalem through the eviction and suffocation of it’s indigenous population, encircling their neighborhood with settlements in a flagrant threat to the Arab identity of the city and its Christian and Muslim sites”, said the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in his speech, which was read by Dr. Zuheir Elwazer, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, on occasion of Annual Day of Observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which was held at the United Nations in Vienna.

000_8478 [3]

President Mahmoud Abbas sharply criticized the current Israeli government, saying that the PA would not accept the concept of the negotiation of the current Israeli government, in which “they can do whatever they wish on the ground and that we can talk whatever we want at the negotiation table”.

President Abbas confirmed in his speech that after all these years of negotiations with Israel, the Palestinians have not seen results.

He demanded from the international community, particularly from the UN Security council, to shoulder it’s responsibilities and to take immediate and decisive action that reflects the positions of the countries of the world, which have repeatedly called for the two-State solution and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, in order to bring an end to this conflict and give credibility to the Charter of the United Nations and it’s resolutions.

Anyone hearing the speech of President Abbas read at the Annual Observance of 000_8664 [4]the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinians of 2009, and who compared it with his speech read last year 2008 during the same occasion in the United Nations, in which he talked about “peace and negotiations as a strategic way of the PA”, could understand that only horrible things could have forced President Abbas to deliver his speech, which indicates the frustration experienced by the Palestinian Authority due to the Israeli intransigence. It also points implicitly to the US policy of supporting Israel no matter what, while Israel reneged on all its promises and agreements with the Palestinian National Authority. “click on the pictures to make them bigger”

As a Palestinian, I find the management of the whole event by the UNOV disappointing. They not only obfuscated the publication of the event on their website, but also did not invite any journalists whatsoever to the event, and, the UN press office did not answer to my requests to be included in the event. On top of that, the director of UNOV left the event after the introduction.


From: K Salam <kawther_salam [at] yahoo [dot] com>
To: Lothar MIKULLA <Lothar [dot] MIKULLA [at] unvienna [dot] org>
Sent: Sun, November 15, 2009 2:34:50 PM

Subject: Annual Observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Dear Mr. Mikulla,

I am a Palestinian Journalist. Kaw 4 [5]I am asking for information about the “Annual Observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People “, which according to your calendar of events

(http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/calendar_days_weeks_08.html) on 29. November 2009 will be held at the VIC. My interest as a Palestinian journalist in Participation in the event is personal. I ask for your confirmation that my participation is possible, and about the informations regarding the exact time of the event.

Kind Regards,

Sehr geehrte Frau Crowe-Mayerhofer,
sehr geehrter Herr Mikulla,

ich ersuche um Information ueber und melde mich hiermit gleich zum

000_8453 [6]“Annual Observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”, der laut Ihrem Veranstaltungskalender (http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/calendar_days_weeks_08.html) am 29. November 2009 im VIC stattfinden soll. Mein Interesse an einer Teilnahme an der Veranstaltung ist persönlicher Natur. Ich bitte um Ihre Bestätigung, dass meine Teilnahme möglich ist, und um Information betreffend genauem Ort und Zeit der Veranstaltung.

MfG,

Here are Some Paragraphs From the Speech of President Abbas:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On all the issues and problems that have faced the international 000_8682 [7]community, only the question of Palestine has not gained the implementation of the resolutions related to it. Which confirm the conviction that there is indeed a double-standard when it comes to United Nations resolutions, wherein any resolution regarding Israel is not implemented, allowing Israel to continue to behave as though it were above international.

It has been sixty-one years since the 1948 Al-Nakba that befell our people, who to this day live either as refugees in camps in their homeland or in neighboring countries or in the Diaspora or continue to suffer under colonial occupation. They have lived under occupation since 1967, as all initiatives and negotiations undertaken with the Israeli side since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 have not yielded the results envisaged or hoped for by the international community, namely an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Throughout all of these years of the peace process negotiations, Israel 000_8601 [8]has never ceased it’s settlement campaign, arrests, aggression and attacks against the Palestinian people, the latest of which was carried out in Gaza Strip, during which war crimes were committed against the Palestinian people and their national institutions and infrastructure, as documented in the report of Justice Goldstone.

It has also gone as far as endangering Al-Aqsa Mosque by the excavations being undertaken beneath it and around it and all allowing the extremist Jews to invade it’s compound and surroundings, which threaten to expand the conflict to a dangerous religious dimension.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is time, after all of these years of negotiations that have not yielded 000_8455 [9]results, for the  international community, particularly from the UN Security council, to shoulder it’s responsibilities and to take immediate and decisive action that reflects the positions of the countries of the world, which have repeatedly called for the two-State solution and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, in order to bring an end to this conflict and give credibility to the Charter of the United Nations and it’s resolutions.

Here is the full speech of President Abbas as PDF [10]