Israel must end its “illegal occupation” of Palestine, dismantle “its apartheid regime”, and uphold its obligations in accordance with international law and United Nations resolutions, the embassy of Palestine in Malta said.

In a statement issued on the occasion of Nakba, the day commemorating the displacement that preceded and followed Israel's establishment, the embassy called on the international community to acknowledge that “Israel’s policies are illegal, untenable and cannot be defended”.

“We call on the international community to carry out their responsibilities under the law by collectively and effectively promoting accountability and a credible multilateral political process that guarantees the rights of the Palestinian people, including their sacred right of return.”

The embassy said Nakba is not a fossilised event in history. It is “an ongoing Israeli colonial project, which aims at cleansing the land of the Palestinian people, forcibly displacing them, and replacing them with illegal settlers. The Nakba never ended, nor has Israel’s brutality, oppression, and cruelty,” it said.

It continued that the Palestinian people are still denied their basic fundamental rights, “living under Israel’s colonial occupation and apartheid regime or in exile, with no political path to self-determination and independence”.

Palestinians, it said, also continued to suffer the consequences of the international community’s “chronic failure to uphold international law, resolve the question of Palestine in all its aspects, and ensure accountability for grave violations of Palestinian rights”. 

“The Palestinian right of return is unassailable, unchanging, and uncompromising and is yet to be fulfilled for the four generations of Palestinian refugees, in accordance with international law and United Nations resolutions.

“The Palestinian people must not remain the exception to the standards and rules of the international order,” the embassy said.