HYDERABAD (RAHNUMA): A team of volunteers from Hyderabad approached numerous educational institutions in Hyderabad, to conduct an awareness and signature campaign to show solidarity with the Government of India’s consistent position at the UNGA for recognition of the State Palestine.
Over 70.5% of the UN membership agrees with the Government of India’s position, and also recognizes the State of Palestine.
In 1974, India became the first Non-Arab State to recognize legitimate representation of the Palestinian people at the UNGA, and in 1988, India became one of the first countries in the world to officially recognize the State of Palestine.
Officially, the Government of India supports an independent Palestinian State living within secure and recognised borders, side-by-side and at peace with Israel.
India has played an active role in supporting the efforts of the State of Palestine to secure full membership status at UNESCO and supports Palestine’s bid for full and equal membership of the UN.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, became the first Prime Minister of India in history to visit Palestine in 2018.
During his historic visit, PM Modi declared, “Friendship between India and Palestine has stood the test of time. The people of Palestine have shown remarkable courage in the face of several challenges. India will always support Palestine’s development journey” and the two sides signed agreements worth around USD $50 million including a setting up of a USD $30 million speciality hospital.
As of December 21st, 2017, 176 nations among the 193 UN members have called for Palestinian statehood.
The volunteers enthusiastically visited campuses throughout Hyderabad, engaged with the staff and students and provided the students and staff with a form on which the participants could deliver solidarity messages and signatures.
All signatures were manually collected and also updated on the ipetitions.com web portal from where they will be presented before the UN.
Ten colleges were engaged in the solidarity campaign in Hyderabad, engaging more than 8000 students and staff.
Apart from Hyderabad – three more districts namely Zaheerabad, Tandur and Vikarabad participated in the campaign. More than 10 institutions and over 3000 students and staff were engaged.
In total, more than 8500 signatures were recorded on the online portal of ipetitions.com from the Hyderabad campaign.
