“It is also a betrayal to European citizens who do not endorse such racist erasure of the Palestinian people. President Ursula von der Leyen owes them and the Palestinian people an apology.”…reports Asian Lite News
The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has expressed strong displeasure at European Commisson President, Ursula von der Leyen’s statement at Israel’s 75th statehood anniversary in which she claimed the state had made “the desert bloom”.
OIC said it contained “disappointing political and historical references that are at variance with the European Union’s positions based on human rights, international law and United Nations resolutions.”
The OIC stressed that “these statements ignore historical, political and legal facts dating back thousands of years and coincide with the commemoration of the nakbah (catastrophe) for the territory and people of Palestine, which continue to be a dark spot on humanity’s memory and conscience and a denigration of the values of freedom and justice, following the declaration establishing Israel, the occupation colonial force, and the ensuing policies of racial cleansing, forced expulsion, oppression, confiscation of bonafide Palestinians’ properties and the deprivation of their legitimate rights.”
The OIC called on the European Union to be “alive to its political, legal and humanitarian responsibilities towards ending the Israeli colonial occupation and correcting the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people, supporting their legitimate rights, including the right to return and realising the establishment of their independent state on the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Palestine slams EU leader
In a statement, the Palestinian Authority (PA) foreign ministry described the phrase used by the EU leader as a “racist trope” that amounted to the “erasure” of the Palestinian people.
“The State of Palestine affirms that such propagandist discourse dehumanizes and erases the Palestinian people and falsifies their rich history and civilization. Likewise, such a narrative perpetuates the continued and racist denial of the Nakba and whitewashes Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime,” read the statement.
“It is also a betrayal to European citizens who do not endorse such racist erasure of the Palestinian people. President Ursula von der Leyen owes them and the Palestinian people an apology.”
The reference to Israel having “made the desert bloom” is a common phrase used by Israelis and supporters of Israel to describe what they see as the country’s success in developing the land since the establishment of the state in 1948, Middle East Eye reported.
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