Palestinians Do Not Welcome Obama

By John Space - March 20, 2013

TAGS: Section: [Main News] [In Pictures] Tags: [US President Barack Obama] [protests] [Ramallah]
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Photos by Lazar Simeonov.
On Tuesday, the night before President Obama's arrival in Israel, around 200 Palestinians gathered in Ramallah to send him a clear message: they don't want him here.

Demonstrator Hazem Kawasmi carried a sign that said "Obama, you're not welcome here." He said the US' close ties with Israel mean they are complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people.

"We don't welcome anybody who gives money and military support to Israel to continue its violations of human rights," he said. "(Obama's) not welcome to come and support all the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people."

The US has the power to force Israel to stop its human rights violations in Palestine but refuses to do so, preferring instead an endless series of negotiations that never seem to lead anywhere, Kawasmi said.

"We need the US to put all the pressure on Israel to withdraw its military from the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem tomorrow. We don't need another 20 years of negotiations and talk and blah blah," he said. "Enough of talks without any results while expansion of settlements is continuing on the ground, and killing of Palestinians, confiscation of land, destruction of houses, all kinds of violations."

 

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