Palestinians in Gaza urges UN help in establishing independent state

Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated in Gaza on Thursday calling for United Nations help in establishing an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

The demonstration was held to mark the 48th anniversary of "al-Naksa Day," or the Setback, when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem on June 4, 1967.

Activists and leaders of the Democratic Front (DFLP) and the Popular front (PFLP) for the Liberation of Palestine, and the People's Party joined the march, which stopped in front of the office of the United Nations special envoy in western Gaza.

The demonstrators waved banners and Palestinian flags and chanted slogans urging the UN help the Palestinians establish their state after 48 years of the Israeli occupation.

Talal Abu Zarifa, the leader in the DFLP, said the demonstration "aims at sending a message to the UN that Israel ignored its resolutions and refused to implement them."

"Our message is that the Palestinians have been under the Israeli occupation for 48 years and until now they haven't been able to establish their own independent state," said Abu Zarifa.

Meanwhile, Jamil Mezher, the PFLP leader, said the demonstrators came to tell the UN to stop what he described as its double-standard policy.

"The UN is asked to implement its international legitimate resolutions which give the Palestinian people their right of self-determination and establishing their state with east Jerusalem as its capital," said Mezher. Endit