United Nations

Yesterday marked Deported Palestinians’ Day, commemorating the anniversary of the siege of the Church of the Nativity 10 years ago.

At 7.30 this morning a small group of Palestinian prisoner solidarity activists in Ramallah swooped down on the United Nations compound in Ramallah. They blocked the main gate and doorway, preventing entrance to the UN building. UN employees have been turned away, sent home for the day. I went along a couple of hours later. Activists told me they intend to stay until the end of the working day at 5pm. Family members of prisoners took part in with the action, with more joining as the day went on.

This is the translated English version of عفواً، بس ليش خطأ؟ which appeared earlier in Arabic on Ma’an Arabic news service.

Mahmoud Abbas was never popular with the Palestinian people. Yet his “stalwart” UN speech moved many to accept the UN bid for Palestine statehood if not purely for the initiative, then for the internationalization of the conflict as a springboard toward a so-called just solution.

While Palestinians are defenseless and under attack in villages and cities around the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Hebron to show support for the United Nations bid for Statehood and express their full support for their leader, Mahmoud Abbas.