UN global event on Palestine will be virtual due to Covid-19 pandemic
Palestinians celebrate UN General Assembly's decision to allow their flag to be hoisted at the UN headquarters, by raising a large version of it in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah on September 11, 2015.
The United Nations has turned the annual International Day of Solidarity with Palestine People into a virtual event to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
A programme issued on Monday says the event, which has been observed every year since 1977, will take place online, away from the traditional commemorations that see it happen at all UN headquarters in New York, Nairobi, Vienna and Geneva.
In fact, organisers pushed the day, which traditionally happens on November 29, to December 1.
The UN uses the day to organise activities by governments and civil society sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
“Let us together resolve to renew our commitment to the Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their inalienable rights and build a future of peace, dignity, justice and security,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a message.
Usually, activities include special messages of solidarity with the Palestinian people, organisation of meetings, dissemination of publications and other information material, and screening of films.
Virtual exhibit
This year, organisers say a virtual exhibition will be held to showcase Palestine.
A statement from the Embassy of Palestine in Nairobi said the virtual exhibit “will focus on the wall built in the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’, which has been ruled to be illegal by the International Court of Justice.”
The embassy was referring to a decision of the ICJ in July 2004, which found Israel had occupied some pieces of land illegally. The court decision was, however, only an advisory opinion rather than a judgment, making it non-binding.
Organisers say the exhibition explores “words of various advocates and public personalities, and uses images from artists and human rights activists who have used the wall as a canvas to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people.''
Live broadcasts
The virtual events will be broadcast live via the UN Web TV and the exhibition will be available on the United Nations’ website.
The day arose from the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in 1977, some 30 years after the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine.
The resolution recommended creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and a special international regime for the city of Jerusalem. This was the first attempt by the United Nations to resolve the Palestinian issue.
However, the conflict remains unresolved, despite both sides agreeing to a two-state solution.
The bone of contention has often been the extent of each state.
