On International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians, there is a chasm between action and rhetoric

The international community continues to express solidarity with the Palestinians and reiterate its commitment to the two-state solution. However, it has stood by as Israel has intensified its apartheid policies

The world marked the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People on Tuesday, November 29. Countries and organizations from across the world reaffirmed their solidarity with Palestinians struggling to achieve their rights and independence from Israeli occupation.

UN Secretary General António Guterres issued a statement on the occasion, reiterating that “the peace must advance – the occupation must end.” He emphasized that the UN is “steadfast in its commitment to realize the vision of two states – Israel and Palestine – living side by side in peace and security with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.”

Guterres appealed to the world to renew their “support to the Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their inalienable rights and build a future of peace, justice, security and dignity for all.”

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and several other head of states and governments also expressed their support to the Palestinian cause.

The day was first commemorated in 1978 as per UNGA resolution 32/40B adopted in 1977. The occasion marks the day on which the UN General Assembly (UNGA) voted for the Palestine partition resolution 181 (ii) in 1947. In 1977, Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem had already completed a decade.

The UN resolutions acknowledge the various inalienable rights of Palestinians, including their rights to self determination and the Palestinian refugees’ right to return. They also express the need for the implementation of these rights and created a special unit for the same in 1977.

On Tuesday, the US organized a special meeting of the committee on the exercise of inalienable rights of the Palestinian people at its headquarters in New York.

Various events were organized by human rights groups from across the world to mark the occasion, including demonstrations against Israeli apartheid.

Increasing atrocities against Palestinians 

The celebration of the day of solidarity with Palestinians has however come under criticism and skepticism in recent times, as Israel continues to act with complete impunity and is never held accountable for the crimes it commits against Palestinians.

Guterres also highlighted how over a decade and half of the Gaza blockade, continued expansion of illegal settlements, demolition of Palestinian homes, and increased killings by Israeli forces inside the occupied territories define the current moment in Palestine and have led to “diminished hope for peace” today.

Israeli occupation has violated all UN resolutions adopted since 1948 regarding Palestinians. Israel uses massive force and oppressive tactics on a daily basis to brutalize Palestinians. Its continued land grab policies and the unchecked spread of illegal settlements has increasingly put into question the feasibility of the two-state solution, which is considered by the UN and most of the world community as the only solution.

Meanwhile, Israel has used the support of US and other world powers to not only win new allies in the Arab world, but also to attempt to isolate Palestinian resistance. It has acquired complete impunity to disregard Palestinian rights and build a regime akin to apartheid. There has also been no serious effort by the UN or members of the world community to restart the peace process since the failure of the Oslo accords.

Palestinians assert that when the UN and the world community continuously fail to check Israel’s growing tactics to obliterate Palestinian identity from the occupied territories, observing a day of solidarity with Palestinians and reiterating commitment to a two-state solution does not have much significance. There are more than 700,000 illegal settlers living in the occupied territories, with growing Israeli attempts to Judaize occupied East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque.