Join Palestinians in Washington, DC on Thursday, Sept. 2 for a picket outside the US State Department to say: Palestinian National Rights Are Not For Sale!
As the direct negotiations begin at the US State Department, it is critical that our voices are heard saying that the Authority does not speak for Palestinians and that we will not allow Palestinian national rights – particularly the right to return – to be bargained away.
Please join us at 9:00 AM – when the negotiations are scheduled to begin – on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010, outside the US State Department at 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC. Please email [email protected] with any questions. We call on all Palestinians, Arabs and supporters in the D.C. area to join us to make a visible presence against these direct negotiations.
The press advisory is below: Download Press Advisory Here (PDF)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2010
PRESS ADVISORY
SEPT 2: PALESTINIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY REJECTS FUTILE NEGOTIATIONS IN WASHINGTON, DC
Palestinians in the United States say that renewed negotiations do not represent the will, or the rights, of the Palestinian people, Palestine is not for Sale
WHAT: Press Conference by Palestinians in the United States to say “No” to Washington Negotiations
WHERE: Outside the US State Department, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC
WHEN: 9 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010
On Thursday, September 2, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepare to meet in Washington, DC for a new round of direct negotiations, the Palestinian American community will convene at the State Department to demonstrate their support for Palestinian collective rights and reject the ongoing negotiations that marginalize and undermine them. The US Palestinian Community Network, a Palestinian community-based organization with members and affiliates in over 20 states, says that these negotiations present a threat to Palestinian rights, including the right of return, and that the Palestinian Authority leadership has not represented the Palestinian people, especially the seven million Palestinians living in exile and throughout the diaspora.
Well before the expiration of its electoral mandate last year, the Palestinian Authority has not defended the rights of Palestinians to self-determination, equality, and return but instead has negotiated for little more than the ownership of disconnected Bantustans in the West Bank.
USPCN Coordinating Committee member, Monadel Herzallah comments, “The Palestinian Authority has failed to establish national unity, has failed to steadfastly demand the end of the Gaza blockade, has failed to dismantle the Annexation Wall. Rather than enter into direct negotiations with Israel–in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, the flotilla massacre, and increasing aggression against Palestinian resistance, the Palestinian Authority should hold Israel to account by suing them in third party jurisdictions, raising their violations before UN treaty-making bodies, and supporting a grassroots international movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel. Refusing to do so and entering negotiations under duress affords Israel the veneer of diplomatic engagement as it continues to inflict structural violence and racism against all Palestinians the world over.”
Palestinians from Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. will gather outside the State Department to say that “Palestine is Not For Sale”, present a petition to the Palestinian leadership demanding they end these nonsensical negotiations, and declare that Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority representatives cannot represent Palestinians, whom it has shunned throughout its leadership.
i AM TOTALLY AGAINST THE RESUMPTION OF TALKS, BECAUSE ISRAEL IS NOT AN HONEST, RELIABLE PARTNER IN NEGOTIATIONS – AND NEVER HAS BEEN ONE, SINCE THE EARLIEST NEGOTIATIONS.
I DON’T SEE THE US TAKING A MORAL STAND AGAINST THE APARTHEID REGIME THAT IS IN PLACE IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. OTHER NATIONS HAVE SPOKEN OUT VERY STRONGLY AGAINST ISRAEL’S APARTHEID REGIME, ITS IMPRISONMENT AND MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS IN THE GAZA STRIP. I FIND IT ABHORRENT THAT THIS COUNTRY IS AFRAID TO STAND UP FOR THE END OF THIS 62-YEAR-OLD BRUTAL OCCUPATION OF, AND THE ABUSE OF THE PALESTINIANS. IT’S HIGH TIME TO US ENGAGED IN BOYCOTTING, SANCTIONING AND DIVESTING FROM ISRAEL. TALKS ARE NOT WHAT’S NEEDED TO END THIS TRAGEDY.
i AM TOTALLY AGAINST THE RESUMPTION OF TALKS, BECAUSE ISRAEL IS NOT AN HONEST, RELIABLE PARTNER IN NEGOTIATIONS – AND NEVER HAS BEEN ONE, SINCE THE EARLIEST NEGOTIATIONS.
I DON’T SEE THE U.S. TAKING A MORAL STAND AGAINST THE APARTHEID REGIME THAT IS IN PLACE IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. OTHER NATIONS HAVE SPOKEN OUT VERY STRONGLY AGAINST ISRAEL’S APARTHEID REGIME, ITS IMPRISONMENT AND MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS IN THE GAZA STRIP. I FIND IT ABHORRENT THAT THIS COUNTRY IS AFRAID TO STAND UP FOR ENDING THIS 62-YEAR-OLD BRUTAL OCCUPATION , AND THE ABUSE OF THE PALESTINIANS. IT’S HIGH TIME THE U.S. ENGAGED IN BOYCOTTING, SANCTIONING AND DIVESTING FROM ISRAEL. TALKS ARE NOT WHAT’S NEEDED TO END THIS TRAGEDY.
THE FIRST PARAGRAPH IS ERASED. PLEASE USE THIS ONE.
We need to organize a letter writing bliz to paper and TV-radio media stating that the up – coming negotiation is totally one sided and therefore it is meaningless. Negotiation has meaning only when there is parity getween the parties involved in any negotiation without interfaerance from third parties.