Palestine

IUSY Mediterranean Committee Leadership Conference 2021: Youth and Vision for Democratic Transformations in the Mediterranean (28-30 September)

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OVERVIEW

What: MC Leadership Conference 

When: 28-30 September 2021 

Time: 19:00PM (EEST), 18:00PM (CET), 19:00PM (Beirut)

Where:Zoom online platform (2-2,5 hours per day) 

Age: 18-35 years

Registration Deadline:  25 September, 2021

Outline 

IUSY Mediterranean Committee Leadership Conference 2021 will take place online from the 28thto the 30thof September. 

We want to give our participants the opportunity to share how they are doing in this situation of still ongoing pandemic and what is happening in their realities from local and regional perspective. 

This year’s meeting’s theme is “Youth and Vision for Democratic Transformations in the Mediterranean”.  want to look at the future and bring our youth vision for democratic transformation in the region. 

What can you expect? 

We will get together for 3 days (about 2-2,5 hours per day) in an informal and formal settings. This means we will have a space to talk, to share, to support and to act. 

We will start the Committee meeting with getting to know each other and teambuilding activities followed by organisational updates. Later on we will go deeper on presenting and discussing the political situation in the region focusing on youth vision for transformation. The last day, we will work together on Committee road map which will support our ideas and work in the upcoming months. 

More details on the programme will come soon and all registered participants will be informed of the technicalities and the content of the meeting. 

The meeting will be held online on the Zoom platform. It will be in English and without any participation fee. 

It is important to remember that our events are safe spaces and that we are mindful and respectful towards each other. We will share with you the Code of Conduct together with the programme and technicalities. 

 With best regards,

 Jesus Tapia              Bruno Gonçalves                     Saif Aqel

 IUSY President      IUSY Secretary General        IUSY Vice President, MC Coordinator                                                   

Who can apply

This activity is aimed towards the leadership of IUSY member organisations from MC. Please note that it is required that the participants participate for the whole duration of the activity. 

Participants should:

  • Belong to IUSY member organisation
  • Be aged 18-35
  • Youth leadership of MC organisations
  • Maximum 2 participants per organisation. Gender balance is required! 

How to apply

To apply you must complete the following form/ https://forms.gle/xw3KPoYzwYZRfUq29 by 25thof September 2021. 

Contact information

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact the coordinator of the project at the IUSY Secretariat:

Gohar Ghandilyan 

IUSY Project Manager

EMAIL: gohar.ghandilyan@iusy.org

Phone: +43 699 135 32 960

We are looking forward to receiving your registration and meeting you online! 

IUSY Statement on the Occasion of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

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      On 2 December 1977, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an annual observance that 29 November is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. The international community recognized that the historical injustice inflicted on our people by the resolution on the partition of Palestine 181 (II), 30 years ago, must be ended, and the Palestinian people must be able to achieve their independence. Today, the political, legal, and moral basis for adopting the international day of solidarity persists. This is an additional incentive for the international system to exercise and assume its role and commitment to enable our people to live freely and exercise their sovereignty in their own State. The  Palestinian people continue in their struggle to uphold their commitment to their land and inalienable rights through international legitimacy and its relevant resolutions, which recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, welcomed the Declaration of Independence by the Palestine National Council, and recognized the occupied State of Palestine and granted it the status of non-member observer State in the UN General Assembly. In this context, IUSY continues its  relentless pursuit to achieve  the Palestinian national unity and hold elections, We will continue to address the international community to contribute to halting of Palestine and pressuring Israel, the occupying power, to comply with principles of international law and resolutions in this regard. We also affirm our full support to a serious political process through an international conference based on international legitimacy as it was addressed by President Abbas to the SC of the UN and resolutions to end the Israeli occupation of the occupied State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.” We call on the European Union countries and the international community, with their longstanding support for a just peace in middle east, to recognize the State of Palestine to save the political process and the two-state solution. The right wing Israeli government is racing against time to impose ‘a status quo’ on the ground to prevent the achievement of the independence of the State of Palestine. Hence, those who support the two-state solution must respond by creating a political reality that consolidates this solution through recognition of Palestine. IUSY also call on the newly elected U.S. administration to take the necessary measures to halt the catastrophic repercussions of the decisions and actions of Trump’s administration against Palestinian people, their land, and their rights. 

      With all its organs and specialized agencies, we call on the United Nations to reaffirm the Palestinian people’s commitment to its Charter and resolutions. The victory of the international community to the Palestinian just cause, the national right to self-determination and the Palestinian right to independence on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, is a victory to the principles and values of the United Nations and the will of the free people of the world who want peace and justice to prevail. 

IUSY and YES joint statement on the US decision to move their embassy in Jerusalem

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Mediterranean USA Jerusalem

Jerusalem holds unique political, religious and spiritual significance and has always been an epicenter of the conflict in the Middle East and a critical issue for resolving it.

Any decision regarding Jerusalem should not be taken lightly and even more so unilaterally and its consequences should never be underestimated.

The UN Security Council, entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security, adopted several resolutions, including the most recent UNSC resolution 2334 (2016) that clearly evoked the issue of Jerusalem and reaffirmed its centrality and the principles applicable to the situation prevailing in the holy city.

In these resolutions, the Security Council recalled in unequivocal terms that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law and a serious obstruction to achieving peace in the Middle East.

UNSC resolution 478 (1980) determined the responsibilities of all States in this regard and decided not to recognize Israel’s pursuit to alter the character and status of Jerusalem. It also calls upon all Member States to accept this decision and those that have established diplomatic missions to withdraw from the Holy City.

These resolutions were adopted on the basis of the UN Charter and international law, and the cardinal principle of the illegality of acquisition of land by force, reflecting the world’s rejection of Israel’s illegal policies.

This stance was further confirmed by the International Court of Justice’s ruling on the wall erected by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

Moving the US embassy in contravention of these clear and fundamental rules would constitute a political and legal earthquake with far reaching and volatile consequences, at a time where the region is witnessing unprecedented turmoil with global ramifications.

No peace can be brokered and no solutions found without Jerusalem. Those who act to consolidate Israel’s illegal actions and annexation of Eastern Jerusalem, capital of Palestine, only drags the agenda further away from peace and by default, disqualify themselves from a seat on the table of conciliation and resolution.

The Trump administration’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem would constitute an act of aggression against the Palestinian people’s rights and a grave breach of international law. It could also push the two-State solution based on 1967 borders beyond the point of resuscitation.

The death of the two-State solution would dramatically change both the face of the conflict, as well as the framework for solving it.

There will also be grave consequences for the entire region. Such a US decision will not only harm the Palestinian people, but those it pretends to help; as advancing the occupation is escalating the conflict.

We call on the US administration to carefully re-assess the impact of this move, taking into account the United States’ image, interests, and security.  The US government’s role is to best serve and preserve the interests of the American people, not those of the Israeli Government.

The Trump adminsitration’s move runs counter to the positions adopted by successive Democratic and Republican administrations for over 3 decades, not to mention the unshakable international consensus. It is impossible to understand how such a move of provocation and aggression, can have positive effects for the United States and its interests in the region and globally. 

Many Palestinian citizens of Israel declared that if Trump will recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and East Jerusalem as Capital of Palestine, it would be a positive action that they will support as a step for the 2 state solution.

The US administration has to choose between abdicating to the most extremist views of the nationalistic right movement in Israel and its representatives in the Israeli government or to stand its ground and work on advancing peace. It must be clear that these two positions are mutually exclusive.

We also call on all of our IUSY and YES members, the relevant international institutions and all freedom loving peoples across the world to mobilize in defending and upholding international law.

The mobilization of all political and moral forces of our time is more needed than ever to end the injustice and the dispossession endured by the Palestinian people for 70 years and the military and occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip for 50 years.

The Palestinian people – like all humans – have inalienable rights, including a right to self-determination and independence, a right to freedom and dignity. They have every intention to exercise these rights in their sovereign State, with East Jerusalem as its capital. That is the path to peace and security for all the peoples in the region.

The alternative is conflict and Apartheid, which we must avoid at all costs.

IUSY – International Union of Socialist Youth
YES – Young European Socialists

Presidium statement on the US threat to the PLO permanence in Washington DC.

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United States - Israel - Palestine

The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) strongly condemns the recent pronouncement made by the United States government in threatening the existence of the Palestinian Liberation organization Office in Washington DC.

With this decision, the Trump administration will effectively lose its credibility as a neutral mediator in the ongoing peace process between Israel and Palestine. By threatening the legitimacy of the PLO’s existence on its territory, the United States government will derail the ongoing negotiations to the detriment of both Israel and Palestine.

We urge the United States government to remain impartial in its role in the peace talks and to consider the rights of the Palestinians and Israelis identically.

Instead of closing down the PLO, it should instead focus its energy and resources in ensuring that the peace negotiations provide both countries and their respective citizens the right to peaceful homes and sovereignty.
Threatening the right of Palestinians to representation in the United States does not only impede on the inalienable rights of Palestinian but directly disregards the Country’s right to self-determination, independence, and establishment.

We stand one with our comrades from the Fateh Youth Organisation and the Palestinian people in their struggle for fairness and justice.

We echo the words of United Nations General assembly President Miroslav Lajčák when he said, “When it comes to the question of Palestine, we have a responsibility and we have an interest. Palestinian people do not need our sympathy – they deserve our solidarity.”