UK Sports Event Speaks Up for Palestinian Refugees’ Right of Return to Motherland

UK Sports Event Speaks Up for Palestinian Refugees’ Right of Return to Motherland

“My Return” international campaign continues to garner widespread support across several world countries. (Photo: MyReturn.net)

A so-called “My Return Championship” was staged on Sunday by Olive Association for Palestinian Youth in Britain, in partnership with “My Return” Campaign, in a move aiming to speak up for the refugees’ inalienable right of return to Palestine.

Eight sports clubs took part in the contest, which was held in London city. Every team represented a Palestinian village or camp in an attempt to boost children’s ties with their homeland. Brochures comprising historical information about Palestinian cities and towns were also handed out to the participants.

Children and young men raised the Palestinian flag and chanted “Hands off Palestine” and “Return is our destiny”.

The participants signed a petition pitched in the sports ground to support Palestinians’ right of return to their homeland.

Chairman of the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Dr. Hafedh Karmi, along with Executive Director of the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), Tareq Hammoud, honored the winning team which was named after the Israeli-blockaded Gaza city.

“We wish that the next championship would be staged in Jerusalem”, said Dr. Karmi. “Palestine will forever preserve its Arabic and Islamic identity”.

“My Return” international campaign continues to garner widespread support across several world countries, with signatures on the petition demanding Palestinians’ right of return to their homeland reaching up to 300,000.

Despite the lockdown measures implemented nationally and internationally as part of the anti-coronavirus fight, the campaign continues to exert a pull on human rights advocates and online platforms. The petition has been signed by Palestinian refugees from over 180 countries.

The initiative has also received letters of encouragement and appreciation by dozens of renowned diplomats, journalists, and academics from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

The campaign is officially adopted and backed up by the Jordanian, Lebanese, and Turkish parliaments.

“My Return” initiative is an international campaign launched by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) in partnership with Palestinian and international human rights partners and NGOs in order to amass the largest possible number of signatures showing Palestinians’ unyielding commitment to their right of return to their homeland—a right guaranteed by International Law and relevant UN resolutions.

The endeavor officially saw the day in Jordan, before it was launched in Lebanon and Turkey.

The campaign comes at a time when efforts have been intensified by Israel and its allies, most notably the US, to negate Palestinians’ refugee status and, as a result, rescind their right of return to their homeland and delegitimize any institution providing assistance to the refugees, such as UNRWA.

The right of return refers to the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland from which they have been expelled since 1948. It implies both first-generation refugees and their descendants, regardless of their place of birth or residence and their political, social, and economic condition.

Short Link : http://bit.ly/2SQ7hUY