International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

In 1977, the General Assembly called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (resolution 32/40 B). Special commemorative activities are organized by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat, in consultation with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

The date of 29 November was chosen because of its meaning and significance to the Palestinian people. On that day in 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 181(II), which came to be known as the Partition Resolution. That resolution provided for the establishment in Palestine of a "Jewish State" and an "Arab State", with Jerusalem as a corpus separatum under a special international regime. Of the two States to be created under this resolution, only one, Israel, has so far come into being.

The Palestinian people, who now number more than 8 million, live primarily in the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, including East Jerusalem, part of which is now administered by the Palestinian Authority; in Israel; in neighbouring Arab States; and in refugee camps in the region.

The International Day of Solidarity has traditionally provided an opportunity for the international community to focus its attention on the fact that the question of Palestine is still unresolved and that the Palestinian people is yet to attain its inalienable rights as defined by the General Assembly, namely, the right to self-determination without external interference, the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property from which they had been displaced.

In response to the call of the United Nations, various activities are undertaken annually by Governments, civil society, academic institutions and others in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

These activities include, among other things, the issuance of special messages of solidarity with the Palestinian people, the organization of meetings, the dissemination of publications and other information material, and the screening of films.

At United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People each year on 29 November holds a solemn meeting to observe the Day of Solidarity. Speakers include the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, the President of the Security Council, and representatives of relevant United Nations bodies, intergovernmental organizations and Palestine. A message from the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President of the Palestinian Authority is also read out at the meeting. NGOs are invited to attend and a spokesperson for the international community of NGOs accredited to the Committee addresses the meeting.

A special bulletin containing the texts of the statements and messages received on the occasion of the Day of Solidarity is published annually by the Division for Palestinian Rights.

Other activities organized in New York in connection with the observance of the Day of Solidarity include a Palestinian exhibit sponsored by the Committee and presented by the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations, and the screening of films.

Meetings in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People are also held at the United Nations offices at Geneva and Vienna.

Link

Website of the UN Department on the Question of Palestine.

Stamp catalogue - 1978

Niger 11 December 1978

Stamp catalogue - 1980

Bangladesh 21 August 1980 (not issued)

Bangladesh 21 August 1980

Stamp catalogue - 1981

Tunisia 29 November 1981

Stamp catalogue - 1982

German Democratic Republic 21 September 1982

Tunisia 29 November 1982

Stamp catalogue - 1983

Niger 21 August 1983

Tunisia 19 September 1983

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 29 August 1983

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last revised: 8 February 2008