THE UN Security Council is to vote on Palestine’s UN membership application draft today, prepared by Algeria, recommending the state of Palestine’s admission as a member of the UN.
The Arab Group issued on Wednesday a statement in which it expressed its total support for Palestine’s UN full membership application, calling on the UN Security Council’s members to accept the draft.
The Group said in a statement that it: ‘continues its efforts to work constructively with the Security Council in fulfilling its responsibilities in maintaining international peace and security, in particular its responsibilities towards the State of Palestine and the Palestinian people, by expressing its unwavering support for the State of Palestine’s application for full membership in the United Nations. This is a long-overdue step that should have been taken not just since 2011, but since 1948.
‘We call on all members of the Security Council to vote in favour of the draft resolution submitted by Algeria on behalf of the Arab Group and with the support of States from all regions of the world.
‘At the very least, we implore Council members not to obstruct this critical initiative.
‘Membership in the United Nations is a crucial step in the right direction towards a just and lasting resolution of the Palestinian question in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions.
‘It is high time that the Palestinian people are fully empowered to exercise all their legitimate rights on the global stage as an important step towards promoting the rights of the Palestinian people and the realisation of the international consensus on the two-state solution on the 4 June 1967 lines,’ the Group said.
Meanwhile, the Zionist terror gangs are at work attacking Palestinians.
As news spread of some displaced individuals successfully crossing the Israeli army barrier on the coastal Al-Rashid Road in southern Gaza City and reaching the north on Sunday, thousands of displaced people hurriedly packed their belongings, eager to return to their homes.
The coastal road west of the Gaza Strip was congested with trucks, buses, various-sized vehicles, and carts pulled by animals, carrying tens of thousands of citizens eager to return to their homes in the northern part of the strip.
Nearly one and a half million citizens from Gaza City and the North Gaza governorate fled to the south of the Strip in the early stages of the war to avoid the flames of the Israeli occupation missiles.
On the sidewalk, Ataf Abu Saeed sat with her six children and teenagers, each carrying their bag or a plastic bag containing some clothes, food, and necessities. She told WAFA correspondent that she was waiting for a car to take her to the Wadi Gaza area on the coastal road to reach her home in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza.
She added that as soon as she heard ‘a hint of news’ about the return of some citizens, she packed some of her belongings and decided to return without a second thought, even if the news wasn’t confirmed.
Amidst the crowd of passengers in the truck bed, Mohammed Al-Katari was one of the most eager to return to his home in Jabalia camp in the north of the strip. He said he was returning alone to explore the road and bury his son if he could pass.
‘I want to bury my son; he was martyred in an airstrike five months ago and is still under the rubble. I want to smell the earth that embraced him,’ Al-Katari added.
The story of citizen Al-Katari echoes that of Rabee Rihean from the city of Jabalia, who also said he would return to search for his father’s body and bury him.
‘My father was killed in his white car; they killed him on the coastal Rashid Street. I will return to bury him, and I will also return to my home, which I long for,’ Rihean said.
For many months, the Israeli occupation forces have not allowed the displaced to return, using them as bargaining chips in ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip with Hamas.
The Palestinian people have the support of the world’s biggest trade unions. Unfortunately that support by the major British TUC trade unions has been completely passive. The British TUC must call a special Congress to mobilise on a world scale for Palestinians not only to have the right to return but also the right to their own state. ‘From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free!’
