More than 50 Palestinians started a hunger strike at the United Nations offices in the Syrian capital Damascus today to protest against what they called Israeli killings of Palestinians.
The hunger strikers, belonging to several independent Palestinian groups, said in a statement their protest was aimed at achieving world solidarity with the Palestinian people in areas occupied by Israel.
We want also to convey a message to participants at the UN racism conference in Durban to adopt resolutions that brand Israel as racist because of the war of genocide which it is waging against the Palestinian people, the statement said.
The statement urged UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to issue a statement to condemn the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people and to urge Israel to lift its siege on the occupied territories to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to the Palestinians.
At least 554 Palestinians and 157 Israelis have been killed since violence erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last September.