Newsroom
What does occupation mean to a country that has lived with division for decades? That question sits at the heart of a sharp response from Palestine’s ambassador to Cyprus after a Cypriot MP sought to draw a distinction between the Cyprus and Palestinian issues.
Ambassador Abdallah Attari criticized remarks by DIKO MP Chryssis Pantelidis on Politis radio, saying they had left him saddened and deeply shocked.
According to Attari’s statement, Pantelidis said “there was no Palestinian state” and acknowledged that Israel “occupies some territories” while explaining why the two national issues should be treated separately.
The ambassador challenged that wording, asking whether occupation was, to the MP, something so simple and insignificant.
For readers in Cyprus, the disagreement touches on a familiar principle: the importance of international law in addressing occupation and resolving political disputes.
Attari argued that this principle must guide the approach to both countries.
A reminder of Cyprus’ recognition of Palestine
The ambassador said the remarks were particularly troubling coming from a member of Cyprus’ parliament, noting that the Republic was among the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine.
His statement also expressed concern about contacts between what he described as the Israeli lobby in Europe and European political parties and lawmakers.
Attari said he respected the Republic of Cyprus and would not presume to comment on its foreign policy. However, he felt he could not leave Pantelidis’ comments about Palestine unanswered.
He described Israel’s actions against Palestinians as genocide and ethnic cleansing. Those characterizations were made by the ambassador in his statement.
Two states and the question of borders
Attari said the call for a “Free Palestine” referred to a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and UN Security Council resolutions.
He also defended the use of the slogan “From the river to the sea” by European and American protesters, describing it as a reaction to Israel’s conduct.
The ambassador said Palestinians had accepted a two-state solution under which their state would cover only 22% of historical Palestine.
He pointed to settlement expansion as evidence of a continuing threat to that prospect. According to the figures he cited, the settler population had risen from 120,000 when the Oslo agreement was signed in 1993 to 850,000 today. His statement did not specify whether the latter figure included East Jerusalem.
Attari closed by returning to the connection he sees between Cyprus and Palestine: both, he said, must look to international law for a way forward.
“I do not miss an opportunity to wish the Cypriot people what I wish for my own people,” he said, a resolution of their respective national issues on that basis.
