The last day of the Free Palestine World Social Forum, on Saturday, was marked by the reaffirmation of claims for an independent Palestinian state, and the refugees’ right to return. At the closing of the event, new proposals were presented to support the Palestinian people.
The results of the forum were discussed by the Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota and the Fatah’s commissioner for International Relations, Nabil Shaath, who met in Brasília over the weekend.
“As part of our action plan, we are preparing a mission from Brazilian social movements, a solidarity committee to visit Palestine next year,” said Alessandra Ceregatti, a member of the Free Palestine WSF’s Brazilian secretariat.
According to her, the plan is to pay the visit in March, to help with the harvest of olives in Palestine.
Ceregatti also says the social movements will work hard for the boycott in Brazilian military purchases, of arms and technology, coming from Israel.
According to the activist, the movements involved in the forum want to set a new date for support to Palestinians.
“We want to establish the Common Day of Global Action, which could be on March 30th, which is Palestinian Land Day; or April 17, which is Political Prisoners’ Day,” she explained. November 29 is already the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Emir Mourad, the secretary general of the Arab Palestinian Federation in Brazil (Fepal), one of the forum’s organizers, believes the event was very successful, and claims a new edition will be discussed.
“The forum was a success. We are thankful to the Brazilian federal government, to president Dilma (Rousseff) for her pro-State of Palestine stance, and to the hosting of this forum. The result was positive and ended with the symbolism of the (opening) march, which coincided with the UN vote, at which 138 recognized the State of Palestine as an UN observer country,” he said.
The recognition of Palestine as a UN non-member observer state was also discussed by Patriota and Shaath, the latter of whom was sent to Brazil as a representative of the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, at the forum in Porto Alegre.
According to a statement released by the Brazilian foreign ministry (Itamaraty), minister Patriota expressed the Brazilian government’s satisfaction with the outcome of the vote. At the meeting, the two also analyzed the current scenario in Palestine, and the future outlook for the region.
