NOVEMBER 29th, 1999

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

 The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed by the United Nations each year in accordance with mandates given by the General Assembly in Resolutions 32/40B of December 2nd, 1977, 34/65D of December 12th, 1979, 53/40 of December 2nd, 1988 and other relevant resolutions.

The date of November 29th was chosen because it is on the 29th of November 1947 that the General Assembly of the United Nations passed the famous resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which recommended the establishment, on the territory of the British Mandate on Palestine, of two States, one “Arab” and one “Jewish”, with Jerusalem as a corpus separatum under a special international régime. And everybody knows, of the two states provided for by that resolution, only one, Israel, came into existence, and the Palestinian Arab people are still waiting, fifty-two years laters, to exercise their recognized rights. Thus did the International community intend to mark its sense of historical responsibility in the perpetuation of this flagrant injustice.

Since the Madrid Conference of October 1991, Peace has made tremendous progress in the Middle-East. Several Palestinian-Israeli agreements have been signed, and important steps have been taken to implement interim arrangements. A peace treaty was signed between the Kingdom of Jordan and the Government of Israel, and Palestinian-Israeli negotiations have started on the crucial and complex issues of Refugees and Jerusalem, Settlements and Borders, Water, Security, and other so-called “final-status” issues. But there are still many problems and obstacles on the path of a comprehensive and durable peace in that area. What this International Day of Solidarity reminds us is that in order to be lasting, Peace must be just: it must be based on the universally recognized principles and resolutions of international legality, and cannot be the sole reflection of a momentary balance, or rather imbalance, of power. Hence the importance of international solidarity, hence the importance of the celebrations organized throughout the world to mark this date.

	Message of the Secretary General of the United Nations, 29 November 1999
	Address by H.E President Yasser Arafat to the International Solidarity meeting in Pretorial, South Africa, 29 November 1999
	Address by Fatah Representive to the Pretoria Celebration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November 1999