Government’s stance in the UN on Palestine disloyal

 

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 12th September 2015, Nicosia

 

AKEL welcomes two positive developments, more symbolic in character, related to the Palestinian people’s struggle.

The European Parliament took the decision to change the name of the Delegation for its relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council to ‘’Delegation for relations with Palestine’’, an action which is in line also with the positive work carried out by the Delegation. In addition, the day before yesterday, the UN General Assembly decided that the flags of UN “non-member observer States”, that is to say such as the state of Palestine, will also fly at the UN headquarters. 119 states in the world (among them several EU states too such as France, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Malta and Ireland) supported the relevant resolution, while Israel and the US along with other six states voted against. This follows other diplomatic steps as a result of which the State of Palestine became a member of a number of international organizations.

These are developments that underline the existence of the State of Palestine and support the two-state solution and creation of an independent Palestinian state, something which the government of the occupying power, namely Israel, is trying to prevent. At the same time, such actions, although symbolic in character, send a message of solidarity towards the Palestinian people that their struggle has not been forgotten and that a large section of the international community will be on their side until the final vindication.

On the other hand, the fact that Cyprus abstained on the UN General Assembly Resolution by choosing to adopt a disloyal stand is just woeful, as it is not in line with the long-standing bonds and ties of friendship and solidarity between the Cypriot and Palestinian peoples. This stand comes as a continuation of a series of options and actions taken by the Anastasiades government with regards the Middle East which certainly do not represent positions based on principles. The government should already have understood that a semi-occupied country has even more reasons to defend positions of principle on international problems.