The following statement was initiated by Palestinian activists in North America:
SIGN ON: Email [email protected] or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations
We, the undersigned Palestinians and Palestinian organizations in shatat and exile, write today to express our firm opposition to the resumption of bilateral Israeli/Palestinian negotiations under U.S. auspices in Washington DC, today, July 29.
For twenty years, the negotiations have not served Palestinian interests. Through countless sessions of futile negotiations, Israeli settlement construction has escalated, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are held behind bars and Palestinian rights – including Palestinian refugees’ right to return – are no closer to implementation. While the Netanyahu government is planning the massive dispossession of Palestinians in the Naqab via the Prawer Plan, the negotiations serve only to provide a thin veneer of legitimacy to the aggressive policies of Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Our rights – the rights of the Palestinian people – and our land – the entire land of Palestine – are not for sale or bartering at the negotiations table. That this process is presided over by the United States government, which provides $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel, and specifically by Martin Indyk, former research director at infamous Israel lobby organization the America Israel Public Affairs Committe, only adds insult to injury and makes clear that these negotiations will bring nothing of value or benefit to the Palestinian people.
Today, we say: PA President Mahmoud Abbas does not represent us! Our rights cannot and will not be bargained away at a negotiating table in Washington, DC.
Instead, we affirm that the Palestinian people are one people and our cause is one cause. Our people have struggled for 65 years in order to achieve the liberation of the land and people of Palestine and the implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return their homes.
As Palestinians in shatat/diaspora, we are not being represented here, and we demand to reclaim our voice and role. We do not accept these negotiations, and our rights, our people and our land are not for sale!
SIGN ON: Email [email protected] or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations
Initiating Signatories
Al-Awda NY – Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Canada Palestine Association
Canadian Students’ Coalition for Palestine
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Students for Justice in Palestine at Florida Atlantic University
Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College
Students for Justice in Palestine at Hunter College
Students for Justice in Palestine at College of Staten Island
Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College
Toronto Students for Justice in Palestine
US Palestinian Community Network
Voice of Palestine
Abdullah Khalifeh, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Amani Barakat, Moorpark, California
Amer Taha, Houston, Texas
Amin Husain, New York City
Aya Dama, London
Dr. C. Nureddin Awad, Cuba
Cynthia George Taha, Bellingham
Dina Omar, New Haven, CT
Fadi Shbita, Montreal, Canada
Falastine As-Saleh, Palestine
Faten Toubasi, Toronto, Canada
Feras Al-Hefnawi, USA
Fuad Abboud, Calgary, Canada
Ghada Talhami, Evanston, Illinois, US
Ghasan Taha, Bellingham
Ghassan Al-Sahli
Gihad Ali, Chicago, IL
Haitham Salawdeh, Wauwatisa, WI
Hanaa Yosef, Lebanon
Hanna Kawas, chairperson, Canada Palestine Association and co-host, Voice of Palestine
Hatem Abudayyeh, Chicago, IL
Hazem Ghanam, Coquitlam, BC, Canada
Ida Audeh, Colorado
Imad Shalbak, Bayshore, NY, USA
Issam Al-Yamani, Toronto, Canada
Jadallah Safa, Brazil
Khaled Barakat, Vancouver, Canada
Lamis J. Deek, J.D., NY/ Huwarra Nablus Palestine
Marsilio Salem
May Abboud, Bethesda, MD, USA
Mazin Al Nahawi
Monadel Herzallah, California
Nahla Abdo, Canada
Rabab Abdulhadi, California
Rajai Ghattas, Vernon, BC, Canada
Rami Alsaqqa, Vancouver, Canada
Randa Kamal, San Francisco, California
Rena Zuabi, Palestine
Sabrina Azraq, Toronto, Canada
Salma Abu Ayyash, Cambridge, MA
Sana Ibrahim, USA
Suleiman Hodali, Los Angeles, CA
Talal A. Kanaan
Yara Erian, London, Ontario
Yasmeen Daher, Montreal, Canada
Ziyad Zaitoun, Seattle
Filed under: Apartheid, Colonialism, Corruption, Free Speech, Government, Human Rights, Justice, News & Opinions, Occupation, One connected World!, Palestine, Politics, Propaganda, Racism, War Crimes, Zionism Tagged: AIPAC, Colonial Settlers, Ethnic Cleansing, Israeli Apartheid, Israeli Lobby, Israeli Occupation Forces, Israeli Occupation State, Liberation, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Resistance, Palestinian Struggle, Refugees, Right of Return, Shatat, US Aid to Apartheid Israel, US Foreign Policy, War Criminals, Zionist Colonization
