Palestinian Delegation Refused Visas for COP26 Glasgow Summit
2 Min Read
Silencing Palestinians with genocide for years, "Israel" works to silence Palestinian civil society at climate summits, too.
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The ​#WhoIsMissing campaign, launched by BDS, sheds light on the silencing of Palestinian voices in COP26.
The delegation for the Palestinian civil society had their visas refused from attending the COP26 Summit in Glasgow. Those whose visas were refused were four: Abeer, Mahmoud, Manal, and Jamal.
In response, BDS and other anti-apartheid campaigns launched a Twitter hashtag, #WhoIsMissing? to highlight the exclusion and isolation of Palestinian voices from dialogue on climate change.
This comes at a time when recently, Prime Minister for the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Shtayyeh, stressed at the COP26 that "Israel" is the greatest threat to the Palestinian environment.
The entire Palestine civil society Delegation got refused their visas for #COP26.
— All That's Left: Anti-Occupation Collective (@ATLCol) November 5, 2021
Help us make sure their voices are not silenced.
“Fighting for climate justice is at the heart of the Palestinian struggle against Israel’s settler colonial and apartheid structure.” pic.twitter.com/R11lxtbg3V
"Israel's" plans to obstruct democratic efforts and journalist transparency could not be more impudent. With their recent decision to label six Palestinian NGOs as "terrorist" organizations in order to suppress the voices of Palestine's civil society along with them, forbidding the Palestinian delegation from attending an international summit is a step further in their attempt to isolate Palestinians from the rest of the world.
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Mahfoza Oude, 60, cries as she hugs one of her olive trees in the West Bank village of Salem, 27 November 2005.
The greatest threat to the Palestinian environment
Ecoterrorism is not only the direct aftermath of any colonization, but an ongoing process that maintains it. Since 1967, "Israel" has uprooted over 800,000 olive trees - amongst many others - the same way it has uprooted Palestinians: by aggressive force and in large numbers.
This act not only impacts the environment at large but also obstructs the Palestinians' connection with their land, especially through olive trees, which have long been a symbol of resistance.
Attempting to greenwash its bloody ongoing genocide of Palestinian people and land, "Israel's" participation in the COP26 and its silencing of Palestinian voices offer the best example of how the apartheid "state" sweeps its crimes against humanity under the carpet.
