United Nations Forum to Mark 50 Years of Occupation (New York, 29-30 June 2017) – Report

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DIVISION FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS

UNITED NATIONS FORUM TO MARK 50 YEARS OF OCCUPATION

Ending the Occupation: The Path to Independence, Justice and Peace for Palestine

29 June 2017

 Ending the Occupation: Creating the Space for Human Rights, Development, and a Just Peace

30 June 2017 (Civil Society Forum)

 United Nations Headquarters, New York

Executive Summary

The United Nations Forum to Mark Fifty Years of Occupation was convened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 29 and 30 June 2017, under the auspices of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP).
A day-long event “Ending the Occupation: The Path to Independence, Justice, and Peace for Palestine” was followed by the civil society meeting on “Ending the Occupation: Creating the Space for Human Rights, Development, and a Just Peace”.

The Forum brought together political figures, academics, civil society activists, intellectuals and diaspora representatives, including many Israelis and Palestinians, based in the Middle East and elsewhere. Participants articulated a constructive analysis of the current situation and suggestions on how to end the occupation. The meeting was very interactive, with an audience of over 200 attendees, in addition to Member States and Observers.

On the first day, the opening session, including statements from the Committee’s Chair and a message from the UN Secretary-General, as well as a speech by the Secretary-General of the PLO Saeb Erekat, on behalf of the State of Palestine, was followed by two high-level panels. In the first, former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shlomo Ben Ami analysed the transition of Israeli thinking since 1967 from the secular nation of the pioneers into an ethno-nationalist society. The former Secretary-General of the Arab League and Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby argued that implementation of existing UN Security Council resolutions should take precedence over further peace discussions. In the second panel, former UN Special Envoy Robert Serry reflected on the role of the UN, seeing it as more part of the problem than part of the solution, and suggesting a bigger role for the European Union instead of the United States.

The second day of the Forum included CSO representatives from Palestine, Israel, the United States, and others. Israel had not granted exit permits to anyone in Gaza to participate in person, and the United States had denied visas to two Palestinian CSO representatives. The speakers from Gaza, participating via audio link from a UN office, emphasized that the Gaza crisis was not a natural disaster but a man-made crisis in which massive human rights violations committed against civilians, for political reasons and without accountability and called for action to stop the blockade.

Speakers criticised the international community for its “complicity” with Israel in failing to enforce international legality. Others argued that there was no need for additional negotiations – all the solutions for the final status issues had been identified, the Arab Peace Initiative had all the necessary elements for a way forward, and only political will was missing.

The presence of Israeli CSOs was a key feature of the Forum; they voiced strong support for an international effort to implement UN Resolutions and to make it clear that the conflict was not between two States, but between an occupying power and an occupied people. They also criticised their Government’s assertion that everyone opposing the occupation was
a terrorist, traitor or anti-Semite, which undermined the fight against real terrorism and anti-Semitism.

The Forum sent a strong message about the need to end the occupation, ensure accountability for human rights violations and put political pressure on Israel and its allies to achieve both.