DAY OF PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY `A DAY OF MOURNING AND A DAY OF GRIEF’, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL
Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s statement on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, delivered on his behalf by S. Iqbal Riza, Under-Secretary-General and Chef de Cabinet, New York, 29 November:
I am pleased to take part in the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and I deeply regret that I am unable to do so in person. I am grateful to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for having invited me, and congratulate them on their important and urgent work.
This Day of Solidarity is a day of mourning and a day of grief. The human and material losses sustained by the Palestinian people in the last two years have been nothing short of catastrophic. The deplorable situation in the occupied Palestinian territory has kept the whole region in a continuous state of crisis for over two years now, with no end in sight. Hundreds of lives have been lost, mostly among Palestinians, but also among Israelis. Tragically, and unacceptably, many of the victims have been children.
Excessive and disproportionate force has often been used by the Israeli authorities, along with extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, deportations and collective punishment measures such as house demolitions.
Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s statement on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, delivered on his behalf by S. Iqbal Riza, Under-Secretary-General and Chef de Cabinet, New York, 29 November:
I am pleased to take part in the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and I deeply regret that I am unable to do so in person. I am grateful to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for having invited me, and congratulate them on their important and urgent work.
This Day of Solidarity is a day of mourning and a day of grief. The human and material losses sustained by the Palestinian people in the last two years have been nothing short of catastrophic. The deplorable situation in the occupied Palestinian territory has kept the whole region in a continuous state of crisis for over two years now, with no end in sight. Hundreds of lives have been lost, mostly among Palestinians, but also among Israelis. Tragically, and unacceptably, many of the victims have been children.
Excessive and disproportionate force has often been used by the Israeli authorities, along with extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, deportations and collective punishment measures such as house demolitions.