Erekat applauds Chile for standing by Palestinian rights

Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, yesterday applauded the Chilean parliament for standing by Palestinian rights in a resolution it passed calling on its government to review all agreements between Chile and Israel to ensure they respect the 1967 borders.

At the invitation of the PLO, a delegation of 11 Chilean lawmakers, from all the political parties represented in the parliament, visited the occupied Palestinian territories in September.

The Chilean parliament voted, on Tuesday, 99 in favour to seven against with 31 abstentions on a resolution, which called on its government to review agreements with Israel to ensure that there are specific references to the borders of the State of Israel and their applicability to the 1967 borders in accordance with Security Council resolution 2334.

The bill called on the president of Chile to instruct his foreign ministry to make sure any future agreement between Israel and Chile should be based on United Nations resolution 19/67, which recognises the State of Palestine along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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Directives are to be issued to businessmen, tourists and Chilean citizens wishing to visit the region to ensure they are aware of the situation in Palestine and stop them investing in the occupation or cooperate with the occupation.

The resolution also called on the Chilean government to consider mechanisms to prohibit illegal Israeli settlement products in Chile.

Erekat stressed: “These practical and effective initiatives are the right steps that uphold the true meaning of solidarity with the Palestinian people and the essence of holding the occupiers accountable for all violations of international law and human rights.”

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Erekat called on governments around the world “to work collectively toward ending the Israeli occupation and establishing the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Earlier this year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made an official visit to Chile where he met with his counterpart Sebastian Pinera who told him: “Palestine has the right and the support of Chile to be a free, independent, sovereign and autonomous country, and the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination.”