By Ma’n Bashour

On the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with Palestine, Nov. 29,9, 2024, Professor Ma’n Bashour, president of the Arab International Center for Communication and Solidarity and one of the founders of the Arab International Forum for Justice for Palestine, issued the following statement:

November 29, once a single day of global solidarity with the Palestinian people, has transformed, thanks to the resistance in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, into continuous global days for Palestine and its right to freedom, independence and self-determination.

Previously, November 29 was marked by events held in closed halls at the United Nations headquarters and a few other institutions sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Today, it is observed through massive marches and demonstrations in capitals and cities around the world, raising the Palestinian flag higher than ever before.

What used to be a day for speeches calling for Palestinian rights and sometimes local, regional or international seminars has become a witness to millions rising in solidarity with the lives and rights of Palestinians.

November 29 was once a day for the world to remember a cause that risked being forgotten. Today, it is a time for the world to witness how a people, alongside the honorable of the Arab nation and the free of the world, revive a just cause through the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of martyrs, injured individuals and the destruction of homes, places of worship, hospitals and universities in Palestine and Lebanon.

It was a day when many awakened their consciences for a right they thought would face the same fate as that of the Native Americans in the United States. But now, these days inspire us with the sense that the end of the occupation is no longer far off.

November 29 was a day for us to reflect on ourselves as members of a nation with Palestine at its heart and its holy sites as the compass of faith and dignity. Now it is days during which our heroic fighters in Gaza, across Palestine and along the resistance fronts wash away with their pure blood all the intellectual, political and moral impurities surrounding Palestine.

Worldwide solidarity with Palestine

On November 29, the U.N. General Assembly recommended that a special exhibition on the Palestinian cause be held at the U.N. headquarters and that the Palestinian flag be raised before U.N. buildings. Today, we see the land of Gaza, all of Palestine and Lebanon turned into a living exhibition of the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs and injured in the face of genocidal wars. Moreover, the Palestinian flag is raised in solidarity marches and on the balconies of homes in capitals worldwide.

Since 1977, the United Nations has chosen November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People because of the international resolution issued on the same day in 1947 under number 181, which proposed the partition of Palestine into two states. The resolution required the approval of the Zionist entity for its membership in the U.N. However, the entity rejected the resolution and seized parts of Palestine designated for the Palestinian state under the partition plan, continuing its disregard for and violation of all international resolutions related to the Arab-Zionist conflict.

This year, our commemoration will not be limited to halls and seminars as it has been for 51 years. It will take place on the battlefields within Palestine, along its northern borders in Lebanon, and in solidarity squares worldwide. 

Solidarity is no longer limited to implementing U.N. Resolutions 181 and 194, which call for the right of return. Instead, it is a call for the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine, and the establishment of a democratic state across its entire land, from Naqoura to Umm Rashrash.

Some may say these are mere dreams. We respond that even the most difficult dreams can be realized.