Newsroom
Palestinian Ambassador to Cyprus Abdallah Attari condemned a recent Democratic Rally (DISY) announcement, saying it “equates the struggling Palestinian people with a state which, along with its prime minister and ministers, is internationally accused of genocide and war crimes.”
He expressed disappointment at the timing of the statement, noting, “At a time when Palestinians and I personally are watching with bated breath the recognition of the Palestinian state by countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal, and feel that decades of sacrifices and struggle are finally being vindicated, your announcement came with great disappointment.”
Attari stressed that Palestinians respect Cyprus’s sovereignty. “As Palestinians, we would never consider interfering in the internal affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, a country with values and principles and a society resilient to dangerous antisemitic and anti-Palestinian phenomena. We are neither in a position nor have the audacity to instruct an independent and democratic country on how to operate or what to decide. We fully respect the sovereignty, decisions, and democratic processes of a state with which we share a deep historical friendship and a common struggle for freedom.”
He criticized DISY for making a comparison he found offensive. “We were met with surprise and deep disappointment that DISY chose to make a comparison equating the struggling Palestinian people with a state that is internationally accused of genocide and war crimes along with its prime minister and ministers.”
On the importance of careful language, Attari said, “The use of popular sayings or historical examples must be approached with caution, as it constitutes a morally and historically unfounded comparison that offends not only the truth but also the dignity of thousands of victims.”
He called for justice for Palestinians: “The Palestinian people are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for justice. They are asking for an end to burying their children under rubble. They are asking that their very existence not be criminalized. Solidarity with victims is not ‘incitement.’ It is a human obligation, and silence in the face of genocide is not neutrality, it is complicity.”
Attari reiterated his position on political interference: “We have not intervened in local Cypriot authorities, and we are not in a position to lecture on how situations should be handled. We believe it is legitimate and healthy for political parties to have disagreements, but we wish that the just struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom and dignity would be a matter of consensus and unity, not a field for political confrontation.”
He emphasized Palestinian identity: “We Palestinians are true Semites. We were born there; we did not come from California or Budapest. Anti-Palestinian sentiment is not protection of Jews; it is racism disguised as ‘sensitivity.’”
Closing his statement, Attari said, “We have never condemned the genocide, but systematically characterize the atrocities of Israel’s occupying state against the civilian Palestinian population as acts of self-defense. A public clarification would be welcome.”
