Palestine Solidarity - Aotearoa
Petitions to the House of Representatives
Petitions
Close the Israeli Embassy (please scroll down)
Palestine Solidarity - Aotearoa
Petition to the House of Representatives
Nakba Rights Petition
That NZ sever all relations with Israel until:
Israel implements UNGA resolution 194 (III) - the Palestinians’ right of return to their homeland
Israel implements the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 25 2. - equal suffrage (votes) for all
The NZ Parliament passes a resolution it is fully satisfied that Israel has implemented 1 and 2, OR
The NZ Parliament is satisfied the Palestinian people have freely agreed to an alternative achievement of their rights
The United Nations caused the Palestinians’ Israel Problem in the first place.
In 1947, the UN General Assembly – representing the colonial powers and just a few independent countries – voted to reject Palestinian independence and instead voted to partition Palestine.
It gave most of the land, 56%, to a minority of recent immigrants from Europe. This was UNGA Resolution 181, passed on 29 November 1947.
Terrorist Zionist militia then purged 800,000 Palestinians from Palestine in 1948 and took most of the minority area the UN had allocated to a state for Palestinians. This is the Nakba – the Disaster.
Israel finished up much larger than the UN had decided on.
The UN could have either tried to force Israel back to its UN proposed boundaries, or help the expelled Palestinian to return to their homes throughout Palestine.
It voted to tell Israel that it must allow the refugees back. This was UNGA 194(III) clause 11, of 11 December 1948.
194 (III). Palestine - Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator | Refworld
Every year since, the UNGA has endorsed 194. New Zealand always votes for it.
Israel takes absolutely no notice of this.
It is more than time Israel was forced to obey. The right to return home is a fundamental human right, set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1948 Fourth Geneva Convention.
However, a return would only solve half the problem. If Israel was forced to allow Palestinians back to their homes, they would be most likely be denied a democratic vote in the country they had returned to. Palestinians in Occupied East Jerusalem are not allowed to vote in Israeli elections, even though Israeli claims it has annexed East Jerusalem as sovereign Israeli territory.
Israel voting rights are highly arbitrary and selective. Voting includes the Palestinian minority which managed to stay in Israeli territory in 1948, Samaritans on the West Bank and Syrians on the Golan Heights.
But three-quarters of the Palestinians in Israeli-controlled territory are not citizens and so do not have a vote.
Here’s an excellent 2022 summary of How Israel Practices Apartheid | IMEU Policy Backgrounder | IMEU
The second part of the petition addresses the apartheid issue which would have to be resolved to allow returned Palestinians to become citizens with a full right to vote.
It is however possible that the Palestinian people will freely agree to another territorial and citizenship solution which somehow satisfies their need for achieving their rights. The key to this is ‘freely agree’. It is their right, and their right only, to decide the best outcome.
Palestine Solidarity - Aotearoa
Petition to the House of Representatives
Please note, the petition is in English followed by العربية.
Scroll down to below the petition in Arabic sign the Petition (Note - Your personal information will be kept private and held securely)
(If you are looking for the new petition calling for an urgent parliamentary study to review Israel’s treatment of children in Israeli occupied Palestine and compliance with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, go here )
2023
To the House of Representatives
CLOSE THE ISRAELI EMBASSY
We, the undersigned respectfully request:
That in light of:
The most recent disproportionate brutal attack on the Gaza Strip by Israeli armed forces and consequent civilian deaths and injuries.
The expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in the Palestinian Occupied Territories to provide for Jewish-only settlements in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian and human rights law
The apartheid laws and practices which discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel
The refusal of Israel to allow the return of Palestinian refugees to their land and homes in Palestine as demanded by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 in 1948.
Israel’s complete ignoring of calls from the international community for Israel to comply with the terms of international law as outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2334 cosponsored by New Zealand in 2016.
That the House of Representatives urge the government to immediately close the Israeli embassy in Wellington and sever all diplomatic relations with the State of Israel as New Zealand did in 2004.
Na,
John Minto
National Chair
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA)
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