The PHRC on PA's UN statehood bid

The Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand (PHRC) shares the views of many Palestinians and their supporters who are opposed to the Palestine Authority's bid for statehood recognition.

The last elections for the Palestinian Authority (PA) were held more than five years ago. Israel, the US and Europe refused to respect the democratic choice of the Palestinian people, leaving Palestinians at present with two governments. The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the elected Hamas leadership have been sidelined by Israel and the west in favour of the compliant and collaborationist Palestinian Authority. Recent revelations about how the Palestinians have been betrayed behind closed doors is causing great unease.

The PA's proposed state would represent less than half the Palestinian population, that is, those who live in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The millions who live outside these territories are being ignored. The PLO has been the representative of the Palestinian people both internationally and in the United Nations since 1965. The organisation has acted for both displaced Palestinians and those under Israeli Occupation. The PLO's status is recognised at the UN but not by Israel and Israel's main ally, the United States.

The majority of world opinion, as reflected in General Assembly Resolutions regarding the Palestinian Right of Return is also being ignored. The more than half of the Palestinian people who are refugees have a UN-recognised right of return to homes and property regardless of the 1967 boundary line. Israel proclaims itself a Jewish state rather than a state of all its people and, by means of measures such as the Absentee Property Law, absolutely denies those Palestinian rights recognised in UN Resolutions. If established, the PA's proposed state would worsen the plight of the refugees as they would most likely be denied the right to compensation while at the same time losing some or all of the UNWRA aid to which as refugees they are entitled.

PHRC spokesperson Tuma Hazou says "of deep concern is the illegality of the authority taking this initiative to the UN and the consequences that may ensue."

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