Barghouthi: it is time for the world to stand in the face of Israeli occupation and oppression

Paris / PNN – Palestinian Legislative Council deputy, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, also Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, said from Europe today that Palestine is the scene of more violations of human rights than anywhere in the world. “It is high time for the world to stand in the face of Israeli occupation and oppression.” This came during a speech to the conference of holders of the Nobel Peace Prize. The international gathering was held in the French capital Paris on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dr. Barghouthi talked about “the features of the apartheid regime established by Israel in the Palestinian territories.” He said, “Human rights must be applied universally, without exception. It is unacceptable that we are talking about human rights while some regions of the world are being neglected. The most vulnerable area to breaches of those rights is Palestine.” Barghouthi asked that the Nobel Peace Prize holders top the list of those challenging the reality of the situation which is being hushed by the media. “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides for freedom of movement and human dignity and freedom of access to medical and educational services. These rights are deprived to the Palestinian people.” The Palestinian official and notable leftist added that it was ironic that the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the displacement of the Palestinian people, Al Nakba. “There are still five million refugees being deprived of their right to return to their homes. This is also the commemoration of 41 years of occupation, the longest military occupation in modern history. Israel's violations of human rights continues in the most barbaric and heinous forms. This is the only country in the world that not only violates the Geneva Conventions, but refuses to recognize that they apply to the occupied Palestinian territories.” Dr. Barghouthi added several statistics including that 42 percent of adult men have been in Israeli prison, and that 15 years after the signing of the Oslo Accords settlements have expanded ten-fold while the Wall was built “three times as long as the Berlin Wall and twice as high.” The Israeli administration built 85 percent of its Wall within the West Bank, not on the Green Line, and “separates Palestinians themselves, not Palestinians and Israelis as Israel claims,” he noted. “The notion of Annapolis was that peace would come out of it, but we discovered that Israel refuses to honor any of its points. The pace of settlement increased 38 times while settlement bids increased 550 times. Military checkpoints have risen from 521 to 699 barriers, while Israeli violence has increased to killing 546 Palestinians, including 76 children.” Dr. Barghouthi noted the siege on the Gaza Strip where 80 percent of the population now lives under the line of poverty and where 260 people have died awaiting medical treatment. Regarding water, Barhgouthi reported to the Paris conference that a Palestinian consumes 50 cubic meters of water per year while an average Israeli consumes 2,400. He also noted that Palestinians pay double that of Israelis for electricity. “Palestinian democracy, too, is being strangled,” Dr. Barghouthi said. “It is not the right of Israel to choose who represents the Palestinian people. The Palestinian democratic system and democratic process is the best in the Arab world.” The PLC member added at the end of his speech to the holders of the Nobel Peace Prize, “The situation will not change in Palestine and the Middle East because there is not equality between occupier and the occupied, between oppressors and the oppressed. Peace will not reign unless it is based on justice and the fulfillment of the Palestinian people who continue to struggle for freedom and independence.”