Islamist media in the UK is reporting that the Vice-President of the EU Parliament has backed the request of the Palestine Return Center to be given advisory status at the United Nations. The report also notes that a petition sent to the UN on the same topic was signed by 115 deputies in the European Parliament:
Support is growing in Europe to give a Palestinian refugee rights group official status at the UN in the face of Israeli and US objections.
The vice president of the European Parliament, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, has backed the Al Awda association’s request to be given advisory status at the United Nations, following a majority vote at the UN in favour of the move last month.
Al Awda, or the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is a non-partisan and broad-based association of grassroots activists and students that advocates and strives for the full restoration of Palestinian rights. Its request to join the UN as a non-governmental organisation with consultative status was backed by a key UN committee last month.
Papadimoulis stressed to the member states on the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR) the necessity to back Al Awda’s request, on the basis of it being one of the few associations that seeks to find a solution for the Palestinian people that encompasses their rights, especially those of refugees.
The vice president also emphasised the importance of member states’ support for Al Awda at UN meetings that will take place next week in New York, where it is very likely Israel will attempt to block the UNCESCR’s recommendation to grant the organisation consultative status.
The recommendation was voted for last month by 12 countries out of 19, with Israel, the United States and Uruguay opposing.
Al Awda has also received support from scores of European and British parliamentarians. A petition sent to the UN on the same topic was signed by 115 deputies in the European Parliament, in addition to letters of support from England, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden.
The GMBDW reported in June that a UN committee had accorded the UK-based Palestine Return Center (PRC) accreditation as a Non-Governmental Organization. Five days later we reported that that Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hama in Gaza, had congratulated PRC Director-General Majed al-Zeer on receiving the non-governmental observer status in the UN Committee on NGOs.
We reported in April that the regional coordinator for the PRC had attended a Hamas-organized seminar in Gaza. In February, we reported on connections between the PRC and the UK Labour Party.
The UK-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) describes itself as “an independent consultancy focusing on the historical, political and legal aspects of the Palestinian Refugees.” The PRC has many ties to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas and current and past PRC directors have also been directors of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), a part of the UK Muslim Brotherhood.
For a profile on the PRC, go here.
(NOTE: The GMBDW has been tracking activity centered on attempts by Global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas front groups to gain recognition at the UN. These efforts will be discussed in a future report at the Global Muslim Brotherhood Research Center.)