1.    Strategy:

On May 17th, 2011, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority wrote in the New York Times advising that “this September (2011), at the United Nations General Assembly, we will request international recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 Border and that our State be admitted as a full member of the United Nations”.

Thus Abbas proposes a two point strategy:

1. Request recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders.
2. The State to be admitted as a full time member of the United Nations.

Will this strategy hurt or help the Palestinians in their struggle for equality and basic human rights and what exactly does it all mean?

• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/opinion/17abbas.html

The Canada Palestine Support Network (Canpalnet) is offering the following information "bundle" for your consideration on the important topic of the recent accord reached between the Hamas and Fatah political organizations in Palestine and the international response generated by this development.

I.  The Accord Itself
II.  Commentaries and analysis of the accord.
III.  The Context - The democratic revolutions in Egypt and elsewhere and the changes in Egyptian foreign policy
IV.  Reaction in Israel and the U.S.

• http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1787

• How did it come about that the two rival organizations were able to reach a cooperation pact at this time?
• What effect will it have on the struggle for Palestinian rights and what will be the response from Israel and the US?

Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet) offers the following guide on this issue.

On April 1, 2011, an opinion piece by Richard Goldstone was printed in The Washington Post.

Reconsidering the Goldstone report on Israel and war crimes
Richard Goldstone, The Washington Post, 1 April 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/reconsidering-the-goldstone-report-on-israel-and-war-crimes/2011/04/01/AFg111JC_story.html

In essence: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”

There are many thoughtful commentaries on Richard Goldstone’s “reconsideration,” and many reach the same conclusion: “That this mea culpa has nothing to do with new facts is clear when one examines the "evidence" brought by Goldstone to explain his retraction.”

Goldstone's shameful U-turn
Ilan Pappe, The Electronic Intifada, 4 April 2011

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11895.shtml

Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet) statement of support for the campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)

In its founding statement, Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet) declared it aims to “change the policies and actions of the Canadian government so that these come to support the rights of the Palestinian people”. Specified were the Palestinians' right of return, an end to the Israeli occupation, and upholding the equal worth and dignity of persons regardless of their ethnic or religious identity, which affirms democratic rights and opposes apartheid structures. 

CanPalNet has pursued the achievement of these goals through building a base of popular understanding among Canadians of the real conditions of Palestinian life – in the occupied territories, inside pre-1967 Israel, and in the diaspora. Building this popular understanding by a variety of tactics – educational events, workshops, publications, demonstrations and more – and in a wide range of milieu -- is the foundation for changing Canadian government policy. We also have pursued tactics which bring direct pressure on the Israeli government. This includes, for example, building support for flotillas which have bravely challenged Israel’s outrageous and cruel siege of the women, children and men living in Gaza.

In July 2005 there was a unified call from popular organizations of the Palestinian people to initiate, build, and sustain a campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) to help end the injustices, injustices similar to those which CanPalNet too had identified in its founding statement. The statement from 170 Palestinian popular organizations, across a broad sector of their society, called for a BDS campaign to be developed and sustained until Israel:

• Ends its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantles the Wall;                                                                                                
• Recognizes the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and                                                                             
• Respects, protects and promotes the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.