Yesterday, 30th of March 2004, the Committee of solidarity with Palestine in Puglia (a region in southern Italy) held a press conference near the offices of the Region of Puglia.
The Committee formally asked for a meeting with the President of the regional government and the leaders of the parties in the regional assembly, demanding a resolution on Palestine to be placed on the agenda of the next session of the regional assembly. This resolution would condemn the Apartheid Wall that Israel is building on Palestinian territory and would ask that Israel respect the 1967 borders as recognized in several UN resolutions. Further, the resolution would include a demand to create a partnership between the region and one of the Palestinian villages that have been most effected by Israeli repression.
As Puglia claims to be “a peace making” region, the proposal for concrete actions of solidarity is intended to make these claims tangible.
The governor of the region, however, refused to meet with the citizens, sending instead a message to the committee asking them to refer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with their demands (sick!).
Hence, we will approach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with our demands in the firm belief that we will be refered to the embassy of Uganda, or maybe Argentina.
In the meanwhile we will continue to stand with the Palestinian people, with our initiatives and presence in the streets, in the same way as we show our solidarity with the immigrants that have encountered the grassroots hospitality of the people of our region. The same immgrants that our region is busy building new administrative prisons for (euphemistically called “Centers for temporary sojourn”.) Perhaps this is why they have no time to listen to our claims.
While the region is claiming to work for peace, the governors and the leaders of the parties in the regional assembly are insisting in their strategy of silence and denial and of building and supporting walls.
There is clearly only one question to ask: “What peace are you talking about?”
Committee of Solidarity with Palestine in Puglia
e-mail: pugliapalestina@libero.it
Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
https://stopthewall.org – https://italy.stopthewall.org