Al-Awda statement on the Annapolis Conference

This statement was released on Nov. 26.

With the upcoming U.S.-sponsored international conference in Annapolis Md., Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, reiterates once again that a just and lasting peace can only be achieved with the return of all Palestinians to their original homes, towns, and villages, with full restitution of all of their confiscated and destroyed property, and compensation.

The Palestinian Arab people, regardless of their religious affiliation, are indigenous to Palestine. Therefore, they are

entitled to live anywhere in their homeland Palestine which encompasses present-day “Israel,” the West Bank and Gaza Strip. No agreement, negotiations or parties which purport to trade away these rights or any other inalienable rights can have any legal basis and cannot bind or compel the Palestinian people to end the struggle for the fulfillment of all of their rights.

The definition of Israel as a “Jewish state,” granting exclusive rights to citizenship and land to any Jew from anywhere in the world, while denying the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine their fundamental rights, is part and parcel of the racism inherent in the colonialist Zionist ideology which underlies the policies and laws of the settler state of “Israel.” Any sacrifice of any part of our land and culture will represent a blow to the entire Arab peoples and the lands of West Asia and Africa.

The U.S. government subsidizes Israel’s injustices with billions of dollars annually. Any Palestinian and other Arab participating in accommodation with the Zionist and U.S. regimes in order to promote normalization and put an end to the Palestinian liberation struggle, stand exposed naked before the world as traitors to our people.

Until all Palestinians exercise their right to return and self determination, Al-Awda calls on all its members and supporters to redouble their efforts, working for and demanding:

1. An end to all U.S. political, military and economic aid to “Israel”
2. The divestment of all public and private entities from all Zionist corporations, and American corporations with subsidiaries operating within “Israel”
3. An end to the investment of Labor union members’ pension funds in “Israel”
4. The boycott of all “Israeli” products

The 60 year commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba will take place in May 2008. Al-Awda’s 6th Annual International Convention will take place in Anaheim, California, May 16-18, 2008. The convention will be dedicated to renewing our struggle to return and to reclaim our land no matter what deals are made in Annapolis.

Until Return,
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition: http://al-awda. org.

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC) is the largest network of grassroots activists and students dedicated to Palestinian human rights.