Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement on resumption of direct negotiations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli occupiers.

The following statement was initiated by Palestinian activists in North America:

SIGN ON: Email [email protected] or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations

We, the undersigned Palestinians and Palestinian organizations in shatat and exile, write today to express our firm opposition to the resumption of bilateral Israeli/Palestinian negotiations under U.S. auspices in Washington DC, today, July 29.

For twenty years, the negotiations have not served Palestinian interests. Through countless sessions of futile negotiations, Israeli settlement construction has escalated, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are held behind bars and Palestinian rights – including Palestinian refugees’ right to return – are no closer to implementation. While the Netanyahu government is planning the massive dispossession of Palestinians in the Naqab via the Prawer Plan, the negotiations serve only to provide a thin veneer of legitimacy to the aggressive policies of Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Our rights – the rights of the Palestinian people – and our land – the entire land of Palestine – are not for sale or bartering at the negotiations table. That this process is presided over by the United States government, which provides $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel, and specifically by Martin Indyk, former research director at infamous Israel lobby organization the America Israel Public Affairs Committe, only adds insult to injury and makes clear that these negotiations will bring nothing of value or benefit to the Palestinian people.

Today, we say: PA President Mahmoud Abbas does not represent us! Our rights cannot and will not be bargained away at a negotiating table in Washington, DC.

Instead, we affirm that the Palestinian people are one people and our cause is one cause. Our people have struggled for 65 years in order to achieve the liberation of the land and people of Palestine and the implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return their homes.

As Palestinians in shatat/diaspora, we are not being represented here, and we demand to reclaim our voice and role. We do not accept these negotiations, and our rights, our people and our land are not for sale!

SIGN ON: Email [email protected] or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations

Initiating Signatories

Al-Awda NY – Palestine Right to Return Coalition Canada Palestine Association Canadian Students’ Coalition for Palestine Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Students for Justice in Palestine at Florida Atlantic University Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine at Hunter College Students for Justice in Palestine at College of Staten Island Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College Toronto Students for Justice in Palestine US Palestinian Community Network Voice of Palestine

Abdullah Khalifeh, Vancouver, BC, Canada Amani Barakat, Moorpark, California Amer Taha, Houston, Texas Amin Husain, New York City Aya Dama, London Dr. C. Nureddin Awad, Cuba Cynthia George Taha, Bellingham Dina Omar, New Haven, CT Fadi Shbita, Montreal, Canada Falastine As-Saleh, Palestine Faten Toubasi, Toronto, Canada Feras Al-Hefnawi, USA Fuad Abboud, Calgary, Canada Ghada Talhami, Evanston, Illinois, US Ghasan Taha, Bellingham Ghassan Al-Sahli Gihad Ali, Chicago, IL Haitham Salawdeh, Wauwatisa, WI Hanaa Yosef, Lebanon Hanna Kawas, chairperson, Canada Palestine Association and co-host, Voice of Palestine Hatem Abudayyeh, Chicago, IL Hazem Ghanam, Coquitlam, BC, Canada Ida Audeh, Colorado Imad Shalbak, Bayshore, NY, USA Issam Al-Yamani, Toronto, Canada Jadallah Safa, Brazil Khaled Barakat, Vancouver, Canada Lamis J. Deek, J.D., NY/ Huwarra Nablus Palestine Marsilio Salem May Abboud, Bethesda, MD, USA Mazin Al Nahawi Monadel Herzallah, California Nahla Abdo, Canada Rabab Abdulhadi, California Rajai Ghattas, Vernon, BC, Canada Rami Alsaqqa, Vancouver, Canada Randa Kamal, San Francisco, California Rena Zuabi, Palestine Sabrina Azraq, Toronto, Canada Salma Abu Ayyash, Cambridge, MA Sana Ibrahim, USA Suleiman Hodali, Los Angeles, CA Talal A. Kanaan Yara Erian, London, Ontario Yasmeen Daher, Montreal, Canada Ziyad Zaitoun, Seattle

#UnitedStates #Palestine #Zionism #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast