Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement on resumption of direct negotiations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli occupiers.

The following statement was initiated by Palestinian activists in North America:

SIGN ON: Email [email protected] or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations

We, the undersigned Palestinians and Palestinian organizations in shatat and exile, write today to express our firm opposition to the resumption of bilateral Israeli/Palestinian negotiations under U.S. auspices in Washington DC, today, July 29.

For twenty years, the negotiations have not served Palestinian interests. Through countless sessions of futile negotiations, Israeli settlement construction has escalated, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are held behind bars and Palestinian rights – including Palestinian refugees’ right to return – are no closer to implementation. While the Netanyahu government is planning the massive dispossession of Palestinians in the Naqab via the Prawer Plan, the negotiations serve only to provide a thin veneer of legitimacy to the aggressive policies of Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Our rights – the rights of the Palestinian people – and our land – the entire land of Palestine – are not for sale or bartering at the negotiations table. That this process is presided over by the United States government, which provides $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel, and specifically by Martin Indyk, former research director at infamous Israel lobby organization the America Israel Public Affairs Committe, only adds insult to injury and makes clear that these negotiations will bring nothing of value or benefit to the Palestinian people.

Today, we say: PA President Mahmoud Abbas does not represent us! Our rights cannot and will not be bargained away at a negotiating table in Washington, DC.

Instead, we affirm that the Palestinian people are one people and our cause is one cause. Our people have struggled for 65 years in order to achieve the liberation of the land and people of Palestine and the implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return their homes.

As Palestinians in shatat/diaspora, we are not being represented here, and we demand to reclaim our voice and role. We do not accept these negotiations, and our rights, our people and our land are not for sale!

SIGN ON: Email [email protected] or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations

Initiating Signatories

Al-Awda NY – Palestine Right to Return Coalition

Canada Palestine Association

Canadian Students’ Coalition for Palestine

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Students for Justice in Palestine at Florida Atlantic University

Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College

Students for Justice in Palestine at Hunter College

Students for Justice in Palestine at College of Staten Island

Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College

Toronto Students for Justice in Palestine

US Palestinian Community Network

Voice of Palestine

Abdullah Khalifeh, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Amani Barakat, Moorpark, California

Amer Taha, Houston, Texas

Amin Husain, New York City

Aya Dama, London

Dr. C. Nureddin Awad, Cuba

Cynthia George Taha, Bellingham

Dina Omar, New Haven, CT

Fadi Shbita, Montreal, Canada

Falastine As-Saleh, Palestine

Faten Toubasi, Toronto, Canada

Feras Al-Hefnawi, USA

Fuad Abboud, Calgary, Canada

Ghada Talhami, Evanston, Illinois, US

Ghasan Taha, Bellingham

Ghassan Al-Sahli

Gihad Ali, Chicago, IL

Haitham Salawdeh, Wauwatisa, WI

Hanaa Yosef, Lebanon

Hanna Kawas, chairperson, Canada Palestine Association and co-host, Voice of Palestine

Hatem Abudayyeh, Chicago, IL

Hazem Ghanam, Coquitlam, BC, Canada

Ida Audeh, Colorado

Imad Shalbak, Bayshore, NY, USA

Issam Al-Yamani, Toronto, Canada

Jadallah Safa, Brazil

Khaled Barakat, Vancouver, Canada

Lamis J. Deek, J.D., NY/ Huwarra Nablus Palestine

Marsilio Salem

May Abboud, Bethesda, MD, USA

Mazin Al Nahawi

Monadel Herzallah, California

Nahla Abdo, Canada

Rabab Abdulhadi, California

Rajai Ghattas, Vernon, BC, Canada

Rami Alsaqqa, Vancouver, Canada

Randa Kamal, San Francisco, California

Rena Zuabi, Palestine

Sabrina Azraq, Toronto, Canada

Salma Abu Ayyash, Cambridge, MA

Sana Ibrahim, USA

Suleiman Hodali, Los Angeles, CA

Talal A. Kanaan

Yara Erian, London, Ontario

Yasmeen Daher, Montreal, Canada

Ziyad Zaitoun, Seattle