Press Release 29 November 2012
Palestine UN Membership Upgrade
Scottish Friends of Palestine welcomes the vote to upgrade the status of Palestine in the United Nations as an important milestone in the recognition of Palestinian rights. In common with the state of Israel, Palestine has no defined border but it has a people and those people have rights – long denied by Israel and its mute “friends” in the international community. The decision now paves the way for a voter registration drive to give all Palestinians – those under occupation in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and those in the Palestinian Diaspora – the opportunity to vote and decide the direction of their state as the struggle for their rights enters a new phase. The opportunity is now given for Palestinian rights to set the agenda for any future talks, not the bankrupt Oslo Accords or the machinations of Tony Blair’s sterile Quartet.
Scottish Friends of Palestine notes and deplores the position of the United Kingdom coalition government prior to the UN vote. As the mandatory authority in Palestine in 1947, the United Kingdom betrayed the Palestinian people when it agreed to partition the land of Palestine. In his haste to appease Israel’s principal backer, the United States, David Cameron has now compounded this betrayal.
Hugh Humphries
Sec
Scottish Friends of Palestine
Scottish Friends of Palestine was formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent attacks on the Palestinian refugee communities. SFoP campaigns for immediate and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from all territories illegally occupied, including East Jerusalem. We work for educational, social and cultural links between the Scottish and Palestinian peoples. We argue for the right of the return, the right to restitution and compensation for the Palestinian people.
Scottish Friends of Palestine is a firm advocate of the total boycott of all Israeli institutions, academic and cultural bodies and Israeli products – until as such times that the Israeli state ceases to boycott the rights of the Palestinian people, and international law as it applies to the Palestinian people. Visit www.easi–piesi.org to find out what you can do. www.scottishfriendsofpalestine.org
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