US Palestinian Community Network to Serve Notice of Employment Termination at PLO Mission
On the heels of a people’s victory for freedom and democracy in Egypt, the US Palestinian Community Network-DC will present the Palestinian Authority with a pink slip terminating its employment as the leadership of the Palestinian people for failure to uphold its duties as a governing body. The event will also include presenting a list of demands that includes terminating the Oslo Accords and unifying Palestinian political forces upon a national platform of resistance.
With great dismay, members of the USPCN have come to know the extent to which the rights of the Palestinian people have been compromised by the current leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The leaked documents from the Negotiations Affairs Department and publicized by Al-Jazeera confirm the PA’s position in negotiations with the Israeli government: renouncing all forms of resistance to Israeli occupation on principle, consistently describing it as “violence”, the PA negotiated with no bargaining power whatsoever.
The radical concessions made by the PA to the Israelis, as confirmed by the documents and demonstrated by the presence of Dayton Forces and a detrimental policy towards Gaza, on territory, sovereignty, Jerusalem, the right of return for refugees, and the integrity of the Palestinian national body, especially that part that lives outside the West Bank and Gaza, is a direct and tragic consequence of this position.
The leadership of the PA acted without proper delegation from the Palestinian people. Their actions echo the dictatorial rule that has typified the rest of the Arab world and however unfortunate, it is no surprise that the PA has suppressed popular Palestinian protests in solidarity with the Egyptian people in the Occupied West Bank. As Arabs move to protest such rule over their lives, from Tunisians, to Egyptians to Yemenis to Jordanians, Libyans, and Bahrainis, we also move as Palestinians of the US, refugees outside our land and an inseparable part, like other Palestinian refugees the world over, of the Palestinian national body, to protest the dictatorial and unrepresentative rule of the PA.
USPCN insists that it is the Palestinian people’s will to continue its resistance to colonization and apartheid in many forms, including boycott, divestment, and sanctions and the non-violent protests to the Apartheid Wall as valiantly led by Palestinian civil society the world over. It believes that popular resistance aimed at establishing international law and human rights norms is necessary for the achievement of a political solution. Negotiating without the leverage of resistance demanding well-established norms will leave the Palestinian national body with all its rights and aspirations exposed to compromise.
Accordingly, the USPCN demands the dismantling of the PA and the termination of all its employees and that the PLO be reformed to reflect the will and aspirations of the Palestinian people. The following steps need to be taken immediately:
* Suspend and terminate the Oslo Accords
* Terminate the Palestinian Authority—Mahmoud Abbas must resign
* End the blockade of Gaza
* End all Palestinian Authority security arrangements with Israel
* Release all Palestinian political prisoners from Palestinian jails
* Unify the resistance–Build a national platform upon which to coalesce Palestinian political parties and formations in their resistance to apartheid, colonialism, and ethnic cleansing
The US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) is a grassroots community network with over twenty democratically-elected chapters. The network affirms the right of Palestinians in the Shatat (exile) to participate fully in shaping our destiny. USPCN is anchored in the following objectives:
* Self-determination and equality for the Palestinian people;
* The right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their original homes, lands, properties and villages (an inalienable right supported by international law and UN Resolution 194);
* Ending Zionist occupation and colonization of Palestine.
USPCN is an arena and platform for Palestinian communities to come together, coordinate, refine strategies, link efforts, plan united actions, and inform one another and the community about their work for Palestine.www.palestineconference.org