UN 'Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,' November 29, 2005
Israel Wiped Off the Map at the UN

The Complete Story of UN-Palestinian Solidarity,
November 29, 2005 and Beyond

This is the prominent UN public display which was used to mark the commemoration of "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" on November 29, 2005. The Palestinian flag is on one side. The UN flag is on the other side. A map without the UN member state of Israel stands between them.

This map was displayed at a public gathering at UN Headquarters, in the presence of all top three UN officials, the Secretary General, and the Presidents of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. It purports to be a "map of Palestine" and is dated 1948. The UN member state of Israel is not on the map. Even the UN General Assembly partition lines of its resolution adopted November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish and an Arab state, do not appear.

As the "map of Palestine" without the state of Israel stands in the background, Secretary-General Kofi Annan addresses the public meeting at UN Headquarters. The anniversary of the UN partition vote that survivors of the concentration camps celebrated, has been described by Secretary-General Annan as "a day of mourning and a day of grief." Palestinians and other Arabs refer to it as part of "Al-Nakba," meaning the "catastrophe" that is the creation of Israel.

In a moment which includes commemorating suicide-bombers the Palestinian Foreign Minister, the Presidents of the Security Council and General Assembly, the Chairman of the sponsoring UN Committee, the Secretary General and two others, rise at the outset of the November 29th UN meeting with these opening words from the Chair. "I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people..."

See the related comment of the Chair, Paul Badji, in that afternoon's General Assembly meeting, in which he admonished Israel for "provoking" suicide bombing.



UN-Palestinian "Solidarity" Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2005

Nasser Al-Kidwa

Nasser al-Kidwa, Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority, former UN Ambassador, and nephew of Yasser Arafat, is warmly greeted by UN diplomats and secretariat officials prior to the start of UN Palestinian Solidarity Day. The map with no Israel stands in the background.

A Warm Reception - Video

Kofi Annan

This clip captures the opening moments of UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This footage was omitted from the UN webcast which only begins at the conclusion of this episode.

Video of the Opening Moments: Suicide Bombers Honored at the UN

Paul Badji

The UN webcast of the meeting omits the Chairman's opening remarks, including his call for the Minute of Silence. Provided here are the actual verbatim speeches. Compare the cover-up - deliberately filtering out complaints of "Judea-ization" and the calls for "boycotts, divestments, and sanctions" - in the UN press release.

Webcast of November 29, 2005 Solidarity Day meeting

'Zionism is racism' over lunch, as the UN screens three days of a film which pushes a one-state solution, as part of Palestinian Solidarity Day. Says one Arab interviewee in the film, treated sympathetically after describing his racist Jewish neighbors, "All Jews seem to care about is work and money."

Excerpts from the film "Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel"

The Big Picture

Moving right along from the morning's "solemn occasion" and the film screening, the afternoon was a plenary session of the General Assembly on the "Situation in the Middle East" and the "Question of Palestine." Countries such as Yemen, Cuba, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia, lined up to take aim at the only democratic state in the Middle East. Iran described Israel as guilty of "apartheid." Cuba said "genocide." Sudan enjoyed "massacre," "barbaric," and "brutalize." Two full days of this helped accomplish the goal -- directing attention away from their own abysmal human rights records.

Transcript and Speeches of the General Assembly

Introducing this year's resolutions, Chairman of the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Paul Badji admonished Israel for "provoking" suicide bombing. Without skipping a beat, all resolutions were adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 1, 2005. These six represent the first group of anti-Israel resolutions adopted by the General Assembly this fall. But they are just warming up. Another twelve are expected before December ends. p.s. The single resolution on Sudan was derailed two weeks ago.

General Assembly Resolutions

The resolutions condemning Israel, and perpetuating the UN apparatus that makes this annual ritual possible, were adopted by substantial majorities. Only the numbers of abstentions in three cases indicated hesitation. With respect to the work of the Committee that organized Palestinian Solidarity Day, and the year-round anti-Israel campaign driven by the Division for Palestinian Rights, the most the European Union could muster was an abstention.

Voting Outcomes