Palestine Human Rights Campaign
www.palestine.org.nz
Media Release

ISRAEL CELEBRATES – PALESTINIANS GRIEVE:
60 YEARS OF DISPOSSESSION

The PHRC will protest outside Israel's 60th anniversary celebration venues around New Zealand this month as the Zionist State and its supporters commemorate six decades of ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.

At this moment in history we call upon everyone with a conscience to spare a thought for the people who suffered dispossession as the result of a decision by great powers to allow the colonisation of Palestine against the wishes of the Palestinian people and without even consulting them. The ethnic cleansing of the population of Palestine by Zionist terrorists had started even before Israel unilaterally declared itself a state. Between December 1947 and December 1950, over 530 Palestinian villages and towns were razed and many were replaced by Jewish settlements and townships.

Seven million Palestinian refugees constitute the largest refugee population in the world. They are prevented from returning to their homes even though international law and UN resolutions demand it. Israel was accepted into the United Nations on condition that it allowed Palestinian refugees to return to their homes – UN Resolution 194. Israel refused to be bound by that Resolution and instead ever since has been continuously expanding into its neighbours' territory. Palestinians under Israeli occupation find themselves, even now, being driven from their homes, and their crops and farmland are sabotaged daily.

Israel's Wall of annexation is separating Palestinians from their farmland and from each other. The World Court has ruled that the wall is illegal because it is not being built along the internationally recognised 1947 'Green Line'. Contrary to popular belief, the so-called democratic state of Israel does not allow an Israeli Arab citizen to bring a spouse into Israel if that person is a Palestinian from the West Bank, Gaza or abroad.

PHRC spokesperson, Tuma Hazou, draws attention to 20 Knesset laws (identified by Arab members of the Knesset). "These laws discriminate against the Arab citizens of Israel and hundreds of other administrative laws and military orders have made the lives of Palestinians both within Israel and occupied Palestine almost impossible.” As an example Mr Hazou draws attention to Israel's Military Order 1015, which prohibits Palestinians from “the planting of any fruit tree or more than twenty tomato seedlings without permission. The same order prohibits the drilling of wells for water”.

Tuma Hazou, himself a Palestinian refugee, says:

"Israel and those who support Israel must stop denying history and admit to the crimes that are being committed against the Palestinian people. Israel and the world community must accept that a just peace can only be achieved through a universal respect for human rights.”

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Opportunities in Auckland to hear Maher Mughrabi Scottish-Palestinian journalist and writer, currently the foreign desk news editor for ‘The Age’, Melbourne

Tuesday May 13th 7pm
Prospects for Palestine Questions and Answer session,
Tivoli, Oneroa, Waiheke Island,

Wednesday May 14th 6-7.30pm
“State of Siege: Problems & Prospects for Palestinians & Israelis”
NZ Institute of International Affairs, Univ of Auckland,
Lecture Theatre 029 Clock Tower Building, Princes St

ENDS

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