A conference on? Nakba, the catastrophe in Palestine, held in Brussels called for intensive? work to update the European citizens, parliamentarians, decision-makers and governments? on the reality in Palestine and for support to the Palestinian cause.
A number of European and Palestinian academics and experts in politics, law and? media addressed the conference? titled: “75 years and the Nakba still continues”.
The one-day event was organised by a Brussels-based NGO called The European Palestinian Council for Political Relations (EUPAC)? and held at the Brussels Press Club last evening.
? Manu Pineda, Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with Palestine, in his video message to the meeting, said: “The nakba was an unilateral decision by the Zionist movement to occupy Palestinian territories and expel Palestinians from their villages.” ? “It was what we called the beginning of the policy of ethnic cleansing which continues till this day? and which aims at the total annexation of? the historic territory of Palestine. The international community must take concrete action to end this apartheid regime,” stressed the Spanish MEP.
? ? Hasan Ayoub, professor of political science at Al Najah university, presented a historical narrative on the Naqba and crimes committed by the Zionist occupiers.
? The conference examined four main topics:? The Palestinian narrative and the threats it faces including the crimes of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians and the confiscation of their right to self-determination.
? Secondly,? Jerusalem, settlements and prisoners as a continuous reality of the Nakba.
? ? Thirdly, Palestinian refugees and their camps inside and outside Palestine, and fourthly the ways to activate more just European policies for the Palestinian people.
? Majid Al-Zeer, head and founder of EUPAC said: “The Israeli crimes associated with the Palestinian Nakba (the Palestinian Catastrophe) are many, but the common denominator among them is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and their uprooting from their lands.” ? EUPAC aims to keep the Palestinian Case and its narrative at the forefront of the minds of European decision-makers to urge them to work in the name of justice, he said.
? The United Nations has adopted the Nakba anniversary this year as an international day to interact with, and it requested a legal advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, which puts the entire international system under the test of justice, noted Al-Zeer.
? The EUPAC seeks to achieve its goals and aspirations through a variety of activities such as organising conferences, meeting with political delegations, and sending letters and petitions, to inform the European Union of the reality of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, he said.
? A well-known Belgian journalist Loos Baudouin, who writes on Middle East affairs for the Belgian daily Le Soir narrated how he faced pressure from? Jewish groups in Belgium to change his objective and fair reporting on the Palestine question, but he refused to give in
Source: Kuwait News Agency