US Palestinian Community Network
www.palestineconference.org + [email protected] + (347) 521-7894
Press Contacts: Monadel Herzallah, US Palestinian Community Network, (408) 849-7977 [California]
Hasan Newash, US Palestinian Community Network, (313) 570-9481 [Michigan]
Nada Khader, US Palestinian Community Network, 914.449.6514 [New York]
Hatem Abudayyeh, US Palestinian Community Network, (773) 301-4108 [Illinois]
*Press contacts will be available in both English and Arabic
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2010
PRESS ADVISORY SEPT 2: PALESTINIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY REJECTS FUTILE
NEGOTIATIONS IN WASHINGTON, DC
Palestinians in the United States say that renewed negotiations do not represent the will, or the rights, of the Palestinian people, Palestine is not for Sale
WHAT: Press Conference by Palestinians in the United States to say “No” to Washington
Negotiations
WHERE: Outside the US State Department, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC
WHEN: 9 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010
On Thursday, September 2, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepare to meet in Washington, DC for a new round of direct negotiations, the Palestinian American community will convene at the State Department to demonstrate their support for Palestinian collective rights and reject the ongoing negotiations that marginalize and undermine them. The US Palestinian Community Network, a Palestinian community based organization with members and affiliates in over 20 states, says that these negotiations present a threat to Palestinian rights, including the right of return, and that the Palestinian Authority leadership
has not represented the Palestinian people, especially the seven million Palestinians living in exile and throughout the diaspora.
Well before the expiration of its electoral mandate last year, the Palestinian Authority has not defended the rights of Palestinians to self-determination, equality, and return but instead has negotiated for little more than the ownership of disconnected Bantustans in the West Bank. USPCN Coordinating Committee member, Monadel Herzallah comments, “The Palestinian Authority has failed to establish national unity, has failed to steadfastly demand the end of the Gaza blockade, has failed to dismantle the Annexation Wall. Rather than enter into direct negotiations with Israel–in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, the flotilla massacre, and increasing aggression against Palestinian resistance, the Palestinian Authority should hold Israel to account by suing them in third party jurisdictions, raising their violations before UN treaty-making bodies, and supporting a grassroots international movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel. Refusing to do so and entering negotiations under duress affords Israel the veneer of diplomatic engagement as it continues to inflict structural violence and racism against all Palestinians the world over.”
Palestinians from Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. will gather outside the State Department to say that “Palestine is Not For Sale”, present a petition to the Palestinian leadership demanding they end these nonsensical negotiations, and declare that Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority representatives cannot represent Palestinians, whom it has shunned throughout its leadership.
—
US Palestinian Community Network
http://www.palestineconference.org/
[email protected]
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October 29-31, 2010
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