Note to Correspondents

SPECIAL MEETING BY PALESTINIAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE TO MARK 40 YEARS OF OCCUPATION

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene a special meeting to mark 40 years of occupation by Israel of the Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, on Thursday, 7 June 2007 in Conference Room 4.  The meeting will have a morning session that will start at 10:30 a.m. and an afternoon session at 3 p.m.

The objective of the meeting is to draw the attention of the international community to the fact that the Israeli occupation is approaching its fortieth anniversary and that the Committee is deeply concerned that this occupation continues to prevent the Palestinian people from exercising their inalienable rights to national independence and sovereignty.

Invited to the Meeting are all United Nations Members and Observers, including intergovernmental organizations, as well as the media.  Invited also are representatives from civil society organizations active on the question of Palestine.  A number of these representatives will make statements on the situation on the ground, presenting some of the findings of their organizations.

The speakers from civil society will include Greg Khalil, Legal Adviser, Negotiations Support Unit, Ramallah; Mona el-Farra, Director of Gaza Projects, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Gaza; Eitan Diamond, Researcher, B’Tselem -- The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Jerusalem; Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, Director of the Executive Committee, BADIL -- Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights, Bethlehem; and Yonatan Shapira, Former Israeli Air Force pilot, member of Combatants for Peace, Tel Aviv.

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For information media • not an official record