Solidarity with the Palestinian people - Christopher Hazou

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Solidarity with the Palestinian people - Christopher Hazou

On this day in 1947 the UN General Assembly adopted a motion calling for the partition of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.

UN Resolution 181 allocated 55 percent of the land to the future Jewish state, although Jews comprised only a third of the population and owned less than 7 percent of the land, and the remaining 45 percent to the Palestinian Arab state. Jerusalem was to be an open city under international supervision.

The partition plan paved the way for the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes and land. When the dust settled six months later, the newly created state of Israel controlled 78 percent of historic Palestine.

In 1977 the UN began commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, timed to coincide with the anniversary of Resolution 181. Events will be held today by governments and NGOs around the world to highlight the ongoing Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination.

Sixty-three years after the passing of the partition plan, the question of Palestine remains unresolved. Despite the historic compromise agreed to by Palestinians in 1988 accepting the creation of an independent Palestinian state on just 22 percent of historic Palestine, Israel continues to relentlessly colonize our land and violate the most basic of our human rights on a daily basis.

On this historically significant date, the General Delegation of the PLO calls on the government of the United States and the international community to redouble their efforts to end Israel's occupation and colonization of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and to bring justice and peace to the Palestinian people, who have suffered so much for so long.

Christopher Hazou is the spokesman for the General Delegation of the PLO to the US.