During the past 50 years of Israeli occupation, there have been countless people who have stood by the Palestinians and their cause. Realizing fully that there is no way to list them all, the Negotiations Affairs Department would still like to acknowledge a few as a tribute to their honorable stand.
Miguel Angel Bastenier
One of the most important international analysts in the Spanish-speaking world, Bastenier was often critical of the Israeli occupation and wrote extensively about the need for an independent Palestinian state. He continued to describe the reality of Palestine in his columns until his death in 2017.
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Julia Butros
A Lebanese singer who rose to fame in the late 1980s, and was known for her patriotic songs, Butros often raised her voice for the Palestinian cause and for their struggle for freedom and independence.
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Eric Cantona
A French actor and former football player for Manchester United who has voiced his support for Palestine, Cantona in 2012 joined the campaign to free Mahmoud Sarsak, a Palestinian football player detained by Israeli forces for over three years. Cantona has appealed to his government to change its policy towards Israel.
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Archbishop Hilarion Capucci
Syrian-born Capucci supported the fight for justice in Palestine. In 1970, he was jailed and later exiled by Israel for allegedly smuggling arms. “Jesus Christ was the first freedom fighter,” he once said. “I am just following his example.” Capucci took part in the Gaza flotillas of 2009 and 2010.
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Jimmy Carter
The 39th president of the United States of America and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Carter has been a strong advocate of a two-state solution and the unity of the Palestinian political groups. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
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Fidel Castro
Castro demonstrated strong support for Palestinians from 1959 when he was prime minister of Cuba, and it was he who initiated diplomatic relations with Palestine. In 2014, Castro signed an international manifesto in support of Palestine. He vehemently opposed Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and provided thousands of scholarships to Palestinian students.
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Hugo Chavez
As president of Venezuela, Chavez often expressed his support for the rights of Palestinians and condemnation for Israel’s actions against Palestinians. He severed relations with Israel in response to Israel’s grave violations of international law and UN resolutions. Venezuela recognized the State of Palestine in April 2009.
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Noam Chomsky
Known as the “father of modern linguistics,” Chomsky is an American linguist and historian who has been outspoken on the Palestinian cause and critical of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. In 2010, he was denied entry to Palestine because of his views about Palestine.
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Muhammad Ali Clay
Legendary boxer known as the “people’s champion,” Muhammad Ali was an outspoken activist for the Palestinian cause. “In my name and the name of all Muslims in America, I declare support for the Palestinian struggle to liberate their homeland.” He helped created ties between Palestinians and black causes.
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Elvis Costello
A musician, singer, and songwriter, Costello joined the cultural boycott of Israel in 2010 after cancelling two concerts set in Israel in protest of the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government.
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Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva
In his last month as president of Brazil in 2010, Da Silva recognized the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders. In March 2010, he became the first Brazilian president to make a trip to Palestine, and he has been close to the Palestinian cause since his struggle against Brazilian dictatorship.
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Angela Davis
An academic and civil rights activist and an outspoken supporter for the Palestinian struggle against Israeli apartheid, Davis is also a supporter of BDS.
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Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Argentina-born human rights activist and 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Perez Esquivel supported the Women’s Boat to Gaza as an act of solidarity with the Palestinian cause. “Whilst there are those who build walls of intolerance, hunger blockades and weapons for death, we, the peoples, must build bridges of dialogue and life.”
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Richard Falk
Professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, Falk was appointed UN rapporteur on Palestine in 2008 by the United Nations Human Rights Council. He has continuously provided service and dedication to the Palestinian cause.
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Indira Gandhi
The third Indian prime minister who endorsed the Palestinian cause in several international forums, Gandhi was a close friend of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
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Stephen Hawking
A world-renowned scientist and bestselling author who is vocal about his support for Palestine, Hawking made a bold move in 2013 to join the academic boycott of Israel in the name of Palestinian justice. In support of Palestinian youth and scientists, Hawking sponsored the first and second Palestinian Advanced Physics books.
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Stéphane Hessel
A holocaust survivor who served as a French ambassador, diplomat, and writer, Hessel was a strong advocate for the Palestinian cause and a supporter of the BDS movement.
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Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II served as pope from 1978 till his death in 2005. He supported the rights of Palestinians and established diplomatic relations with the PLO. He advocated for justice and peace in the Holy Land, which he reaffirmed during his pilgrimage in 2000.
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Ahmed Kathrada
An anti-apartheid activist and freedom fighter alongside Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Kathrada founded the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation in 2008. The foundation supports solidarity initiatives around the world, including the Palestinian cause. Recently, the foundation has stood in solidarity with the Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike.
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Marcel Khalife
A renowned Lebanese musical artist who was dubbed UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2005, Khalife has long been a friend of the Palestinian cause. Forming a close friendship with the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, Khalife’s work often has the Palestinian cause as a central theme.
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Elias Khoury
A renowned Lebanese writer and author of eleven novels, Khoury joined the Palestinian resistance in Jordan in the late 1960s. In Lebanon, he worked alongside Mahmoud Darwish in the PLO Research Center, the literary group Mawaqif, and the journal Al-Karmel. In 2016, he received the Mahmoud Darwish Award for Creativity.
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Bruno Kreisky
Chancellor of Austria between 1970 and 1983, Kreisky was a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause and opposed Israeli attempts to normalize the occupation. He supported a final-status agreement that honored the internationally recognized rights of the Palestinian people.
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Felicia Langer
An Israeli lawyer and human rights activist, Langer has dedicated her professional career to fight against the various human rights abuses committed by Israel, including political prisoners, land confiscations, home demolitions, imprisonment, and torture.
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Mairead Maguire
A peace activist from Northern Ireland and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Maguire spent years standing in solidarity with oppressed communities. In 2010, she boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla MV Rachel Corrie in an attempt to breach the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
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Nelson Mandela
Known as “Madiba,” Mandela was a leader of the South African anti-apartheid struggle who was close to Yasser Arafat and a symbol of freedom for Palestinians. He supported the Palestinians struggle for freedom and said, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
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Diego Maradona
Considered to be one of the top football players in history, Maradona was also the former captain of the Argentinian national team. He openly stated, “I’m the biggest fan of the Palestinian cause,” and “I support this nation’s cause since I grew up on struggle and standing against injustice.”
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One of the most important Latin American writers, the Colombian novelist Marquez won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. That same year he published an article denouncing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, stating that “Begin and Sharon deserve the Nobel Prize for killing.” He remained close to the Palestinian cause until his death in 2014.
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Luisa Morgantini
An Italian politician, member of the EU Parliament and its former Deputy Speaker, Morgantini has been actively supporting the nonviolent resistance of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation, as well as Palestinian diplomatic initiatives to achieve the two-state solution.
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José Mujica
President of Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, Mujica is known as a human rights defender. Under his leadership, Uruguay recognized the State of Palestine in accordance with international law, as well as the membership of Palestine in all international organizations.
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Ahmad Fuad Nigm
An Egyptian poet, Nigm was known as Egypt’s “poet of the people.” His poems were often critical of political situations, including Egypt’s defeat by Israel in 1967 and the peace treaty with Israel in 1979. “O Palestinian” is a piece in which he states, “O Palestinian the revolution is certain.”
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Olof Palme
Swedish prime minister between 1969 and 1976 and also in 1982 until his assassination, Palme was a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause. He was the first Western European leader to openly support a dialogue with the PLO, both at a government level and through Socialist International.
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Ilan Pappe
An Israeli historian and academic whose work has unveiled the detailed Zionist plans to ethnically cleanse Palestine, Pappe supports a one-democratic-state solution in all of historic Palestine. He is the author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine as well as On Palestine, alongside Noam Chomsky.
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Vanessa Redgrave
An English actress and activist, Redgrave produced and starred in The Palestinian, a 1977 documentary on Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. She has been a long-time advocate for the Palestinian cause and has condemned Israel’s violation of human rights, including the recent assaults on Gaza.
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José Saramago
Renowned Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize winner in literature, Saramago expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian people on countless occasions, including by visiting Palestine in the middle of the second Intifada. He publicly called for an end to Israeli impunity for their war crimes in Occupied Palestine. He passed away in 2010.
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Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria
Pope Shenouda led the Coptic community in Egypt for 40 years and was a committed supporter of the Palestinian cause. He banned Coptic pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order not to normalize the occupation. Pope Shenouda used his position to lobby various countries on behalf of the Palestinian people.
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Desmond Tutu
An outspoken South African archbishop and a symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, Tutu repeatedly called for an end to Israeli apartheid and the implementation of the rights of the Palestinian people. He also endorsed BDS.
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Roger Waters
A musician and Pink Floyd star, Waters joined the Palestinian quest for freedom after a visit to the West Bank in 2006. Since then, he has been a supporter and an advocate of BDS. Waters graffitied on the apartheid Wall: “We don’t need no thought control.”
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