On Saturday 12 May – to mark Nakba Day – the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, the British Muslim Initiative, Palestinian Forum for Britain, and the Stop the War Coalition organised a protest outside number 10 Downing Street.

Speakers included the Prof Manuel Hassassian, the Head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom, the Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Hugh Lanning, Rev Garth Hewitt, and the disgraced former Liberal Democrat peer, Baroness Jenny Tonge, who resigned from the party after refusing to apologise for telling students at Middlesex University that Israel will not last forever and that it would “reap what it has sown.”

Addressing the demonstration, Prof Manuel Hassassian said: “This endless occupation of a people who have been yearning for self-determination and independence has been met with military action, incursion and imprisonment.

“The international community is witnessing the continuing Nakba. Today we are gathered here to tell Israel that five million Palestinians who are living in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and in what they call Israel and the six million Palestinians who are living in the diaspora are yearning to go back. The right of return is a sacred right for the Palestinians and the Nakba will never stop until we go back.” (Our emphasis)

Prof. Hassassian’s presence at such a divisive and rejectionist demonstration organised by rejectionist groups who care less about the Palestinian cause and more about the destruction of Israel is questionable. All responsible parties and interlocutors have acknowledged that in order for there to be peace a two state solution – a Jewish State and a Palestinian State – must be able to exist side by side. It is regrettable that the PA’s Head of Mission in the United Kingdom has appeared to endorse, through his comments, a one state solution, and therefore rejecting any hope for peace.