World YWCA – YWCA Palestine: Statement on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

On November 29th each year, the World Young Women’s Christian Association (World YWCA) and its member association, the YWCA of Palestine, unite in urging individuals worldwide to observe the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. Since 1947, this date has also marked our commemoration of UN General Assembly Resolution 181, which advocates for the partition of Palestine into two states: one for the Jewish people and one for the Arab Palestinians.

The International Day of Solidarity highlights that the issue of Palestine remains unresolved. Palestinians are still yearning to attain their 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 have been displaced, including the right to establish their own independent state with safe borders. This day urges global attention to these ongoing challenges.

Despite countless UN calls and resolutions, the escalating crisis in Palestine demands urgent attention as the situation worsens with each passing year. As an occupying power, Israel succeeded in dividing Palestine into non-contiguous cantons and creating irreversible facts on the ground that would make the establishment of a Palestinian state impossible. These Israeli discriminatory policies have systematically undermined the prospects for justice and equality, resulting in harrowing accounts of displacement and dispossession of Palestinian refugees. Since 1947, Israeli directives have persistently demolished homes and confiscated land and resources to make way for further illegal settlement expansions.

The International Day of Solidarity comes for the second year, during one of the darkest and hardest chapters in the history of the Palestinian people. For over two decades, Gaza has suffered a suffocating siege, pushing Gaza into severe poverty.  Lately and since October 7, 2023, the genocide inflicted by the Israeli Occupation, which has been recognized by the ICJ as such, has led to an alarming rise in the death toll in Gaza which demands immediate and urgent global action. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and wounded.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes-but nowhere is safe in Gaza. Most of them have no home to return to, since they have been intentionally destroyed or damaged beyond repair. In addition to all universities, the majority of the schools and hospitals, as well as places of worship have been destroyed. Diseases and famine, due to severe deprivation of food and essential medication, are striking fear in the hearts of an exhausted population. All these collective punishment measures imposed on  the Palestinian people, is causing civilians to live with overwhelmed  pain, anguish and heartache.

This dire humanitarian and socio-economic situation in Palestine in general, and refugee camps in particular, place additional burdens on international community to meet basic needs and fulfil their commitments to supporting Palestine refugees.

A recent law passed by the Israeli Knesset seeks to ban the UNRWA’s operations within areas deemed under “Israeli sovereignty,” specifically in Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank. The new legislation prohibits UNRWA from operating any offices, providing any services, or conducting any activities in the territory it occupies, effectively aiming to force the agency out of the region it has served for decades.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) “concluded that it is plausible that Israel’s actions in Gaza Strip could amount to genocide and issued provisional measures, in which it ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent any acts contrary to the 1948 Genocide Convention”. Furthermore, on 19 July 2024, the ICJ reminded all states of their responsibilities. Its advisory opinion concluded that Israel’s continued occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and needs to end as soon as possible, including the cessation of any new settlement activities.

This reality in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, urges the international community, including not only States but also non-state actors such as businesses, to do everything they can to implement all these resolutions to end the Israeli apartheid and occupation of the Palestinian territory.

As one of the world’s largest women’s movements, we, the World YWCA and the YWCA of Palestine, emphatically call for the affirmation and protection of human rights and international law for all.

We are committed to engaging young people, particularly young women, in pursuing positive transformation by educating them about their human rights as outlined in international resolutions such as UNSCR 2250, UNSCR 1325, and other global accords, and to defend and expand the fulfillment of their rights to dignity, bodily integrity and equal participation in decision-making.

On this day, we call on the international community and policymakers to:

  1. Immediate action to end the Genocide in Gaza, protecting civilian lives and ensuring unrestricted humanitarian aid.
  2. Provision of Protection and housing for civilians and allowing them to return to their original villages, towns and residency locations
  3. Support for UNRWA as it provides essential services to Palestinian refugees.
  4. End the Israeli Occupation of all Palestinian Territories and work towards a sustainable solution that offers the Palestinians the right to establish their own sovereign State with secured borders. Hold Israel accountable for violations of international law and human rights and institute justice……  There can be no peace with Occupation.
  5. Justice with accountability through legal measures, such as those of the International Criminal Court and the ICJ.
  6. Stop military aid to Israel and institute economic measures to pressure Israel to retaliate

We Implore the United Nations to enforce its own resolutions on Palestine, and governments to act on all the UN resolutions related to Palestine and enforce the full realisation of economic, political, social and cultural rights for Palestinians.

The YWCA of Palestine and the World YWCA want to unequivocally emphasize that despite all these daunting realities and challenges, we uphold our hope and belief in the unwavering potential of youth and their active participation on local, national, and international levels to promote a just peace. Above all, we are devoted to instilling hope in their hearts and cultivating in them the core values essential to achieving freedom, justice, and peace for themselves, their communities, and the world at large.

Today and every day, let us stand in solidarity with the aspirations of the Palestinian people to achieve their inalienable rights and support them to build a future of peace, justice, security and dignity for all.

*A shorter version of this statement was read at the UN in Geneva on Friday, 29 November, on behalf of World YWCA – YWCA Palestine.

The World YWCA, rooted in a 160-year vision of peace and justice, believes that women’s involvement and leadership are essential to achieving a just and equitable world. In response to the escalating crisis in Palestine and the Middle East, the World YWCA has issued several statements addressing the impacts on women, children, and communities while reaffirming its commitment to peace with justice. See the statements below: