PA Culture Minister against holding the Eurovision in Israel
Headline: "Bessaiso calls on the EU to support Palestine in order to preserve its heritage and culture"
"[PA] Minister of Culture Ehab Bessaiso called on the European Union (EU) yesterday [Sept. 17, 2018] to support the Palestinian national rights in order to preserve [Palestine’s] heritage and culture, and to stand up for the side that is being persecuted… He explained that in this context, the Eurovision, which is expected to take place [in Israel] in 2019 must be clearly and significantly noted…
He said: 'Any step that is inconsistent with the international sources of authority, which clearly determine that Jerusalem the capital is occupied based on [UN Security Council] Resolutions 242 and 338 – and this includes even the Eurovision, politicizes and does not serve the international efforts or even the EU’s foreign policy, which is clear in this context.' …
He explained: ‘Any cultural event that deviates from the framework of the decisions of the international institutions… is like recognition of the occupation's policy. We say to the participants in the Eurovision that is expected to take place next year – we request that you also pay attention to the Palestinian people’s suffering. Where this competition will take place there is also a people that is located less than [a few] kilometers from the place of the event. This people is suffering due to the occupation’s policy, which denies it its national rights and its human rights.' …
He added: 'It is necessary to keep in mind that it is impossible to separate the decision to hold the Eurovision – whether in Jerusalem or in another place – from the occupation's policy… We do not want culture to turn into a tool for persecution. We want culture to serve as a bridge to justice and stability.’"
UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) states that every state in the Middle East has the right "to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force,” calls on Israel to withdraw its armed forces "from territories occupied in the recent conflict," i.e. the 1967 Six Day War, calls for freedom of navigation through international waters, and demands a just resolution to the refugee problem. At the time, those involved in drafting the resolution said that the wording of the clause calling for Israeli withdrawal - withdrawal "from territories" - was intentionally left vague, with neither "the" nor "all" added before "territories" so there would be room for negotiation. US Secretary of State Dean Rusk said it was left vague so that it could later be negotiated "to form a border sensible for both parties." British Ambassador to the UN Lord Caradon said that "It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967, because those positions were undesirable and artificial." US President Lyndon B. Johnson also noted that returning to the borders of June 4, 1967, would be "not a prescription for peace, but for renewed hostilities." Israel could be said to have partially or fully fulfilled this clause when it withdrew from Sinai, withdrawing from 91% of the aforementioned territories. Regarding the refugee clause, the resolution does not define the refugees as Palestinian, or even as Arab, and in no way guarantees the "right of return" to Palestinian refugees, and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Arthur Goldberg repeatedly emphasized, including in published statements in 1985 and 1988, that the refugee clause also includes the need to resolve the issue of Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries after 1948, and this was also noted by US President Jimmy Carter at Camp David in 1978.
UN Security Council Resolution 338 (1973) called for a ceasefire in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 242.
"[PA] Minister of Culture Ehab Bessaiso called on the European Union (EU) yesterday [Sept. 17, 2018] to support the Palestinian national rights in order to preserve [Palestine’s] heritage and culture, and to stand up for the side that is being persecuted… He explained that in this context, the Eurovision, which is expected to take place [in Israel] in 2019 must be clearly and significantly noted…
He said: 'Any step that is inconsistent with the international sources of authority, which clearly determine that Jerusalem the capital is occupied based on [UN Security Council] Resolutions 242 and 338 – and this includes even the Eurovision, politicizes and does not serve the international efforts or even the EU’s foreign policy, which is clear in this context.' …
He explained: ‘Any cultural event that deviates from the framework of the decisions of the international institutions… is like recognition of the occupation's policy. We say to the participants in the Eurovision that is expected to take place next year – we request that you also pay attention to the Palestinian people’s suffering. Where this competition will take place there is also a people that is located less than [a few] kilometers from the place of the event. This people is suffering due to the occupation’s policy, which denies it its national rights and its human rights.' …
He added: 'It is necessary to keep in mind that it is impossible to separate the decision to hold the Eurovision – whether in Jerusalem or in another place – from the occupation's policy… We do not want culture to turn into a tool for persecution. We want culture to serve as a bridge to justice and stability.’"
UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) states that every state in the Middle East has the right "to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force,” calls on Israel to withdraw its armed forces "from territories occupied in the recent conflict," i.e. the 1967 Six Day War, calls for freedom of navigation through international waters, and demands a just resolution to the refugee problem. At the time, those involved in drafting the resolution said that the wording of the clause calling for Israeli withdrawal - withdrawal "from territories" - was intentionally left vague, with neither "the" nor "all" added before "territories" so there would be room for negotiation. US Secretary of State Dean Rusk said it was left vague so that it could later be negotiated "to form a border sensible for both parties." British Ambassador to the UN Lord Caradon said that "It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967, because those positions were undesirable and artificial." US President Lyndon B. Johnson also noted that returning to the borders of June 4, 1967, would be "not a prescription for peace, but for renewed hostilities." Israel could be said to have partially or fully fulfilled this clause when it withdrew from Sinai, withdrawing from 91% of the aforementioned territories. Regarding the refugee clause, the resolution does not define the refugees as Palestinian, or even as Arab, and in no way guarantees the "right of return" to Palestinian refugees, and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Arthur Goldberg repeatedly emphasized, including in published statements in 1985 and 1988, that the refugee clause also includes the need to resolve the issue of Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries after 1948, and this was also noted by US President Jimmy Carter at Camp David in 1978.
UN Security Council Resolution 338 (1973) called for a ceasefire in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 242.