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PCHR is due to receive a delegation from the International Parliament of Writers, including Nobel laureates Wole Soyinka and José Saramago, during a visit to the region in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The delegation, scheduled to arrive in Gaza on 26 March, includes Nobel literature laureates Wole Soyinka (Nigeria, 1986), José Saramago (Portugal, 1998) and members of the International Parliament of Writers, including: Russell Banks (USA, head of the Parliament), Christian Salmon (France, Secretary of the Parliament), Breyten Breytenbach (South Africa), Bei Dao (China), and Vincenzo Consolo (Italy). A number of French artists and journalists are accompanying the delegation, as is Laila Shaheed, representative of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to France.

The delegation arrived in the West Bank on 24 March and was received by al-Karmel magazine and its editor-in-chief, the poet Mahmoud Darwish.

PCHR Director Raji Sourani, as well as the Centre’s administration and staff, will receive the delegation and arrange a tour of the Gaza strip to familiarise the delegation with the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), including systematic violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians. The tour will include visits to the Khan Yunis and Rafah refugee camps in the southern Gaza strip, as well as the Gaza international airport, destroyed last year by Israeli forces. After the tour, the delegation will attend a meeting with representatives of Palestinian civil society at PCHR’s headquarters, followed by a reception.

The International Parliament of Writers issued a statement on 6 March calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and for a resumption of negotiations as the only way of reaching a permanent peace. The statement also expressed solidarity with Palestinian civilians as victims of human rights violations and called for international protection for the Palestinian people.