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PALESTINIAN ambassador Professor Manuel Hassassian made an unprecedented call for a one-state solution at a packed parliamentary meeting on Tuesday night. by JAMES TWEEDIE, Morning Star, London, 20 November 2008 Speaking after arriving from the Palestinian Authority's governmental seat in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West bank, Prof Hassassian told the standing-room only committee room meeting at the House of Commons: "More than ever, I am frustrated and pessimistic about the situation on the ground." Mimicking the language of his nation's occupiers, the Palestinian ambassador to Britain said: "Israel is not a partner for peace. It speaks the language of war." He pointed out that since the Palestinian-Israeli peace conference in the US city of Annapolis in November 2007 the number of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land has doubled. Prof Hassassian said: "We have to stop fooling ourselves. These negotiations are nothing but public relations. Israel is a colonial settler state. It is only interested in displacing the Palestinians and controlling all of Palestine. "By 2010 we will be left with just 12 per cent of historic Palestine. How can israel have peace with six million hungry and angry Palestinians on its doorstep? "We have to accept there is no solution but the one-state solution." Questioned after the meeting, Prof Hassassian declared that he spoke "neither for Fatah nor Hamas, nor for my president, but for the Palestinian people." Respect MP George Galloway, also speaking at the meeting, said that Prof Hassassian was "right to unfurl the flag of one democratic, secular state from the river Jordan to the sea." Palestine Solidarity Campaign general secretary Betty Hunter said yesterday that Prof Hassassian's comments demonstrated the frustration of the Palestinian people, "who have seen their their acceptance of the two-state solution thrown in their face while Israel continues its expansionists policies." Ms Hunter added that there was a "growing discussion" on this "new departure" in Palestine. "The issue of self-determination is the first issue that the British and other governments should be pressing so that the Palestinian people can be engaged in the democratic process of deciding their own future." Conservative Middle East Council chairman Crispin Blunt MP and Labour MP Martin Linton expressed their sympathy with Prof Hassassian's position. But Mr Blunt said there were "grounds for hope" in US president-elect Barack Obama, who has said the Arab nations' proposal for a two-state solution was "the best game in town." Mr Linton used the meeting to announce the long-overdue formation of a Labour Friends of Palestine parliamentary group to serve as a "counterweight" to Labour Friends of Israel. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [EMAIL PROTECTED] . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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