30 March 2013 -- Palestinians are today commemorating with action Land Day, a day in 1976 when Israeli military forces shot and killed six young Palestinian citizens of Israel. These brave youth were among thousands protesting the Israeli government’s expropriation of Palestinian land.

The schedule for President Barack Obama's first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories next week has just been released and it is no surprise that the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is not on his travel agenda.

And yet Israel put it on the international agenda less than a month ago with its award of a licence to a US energy firm to explore for oil in the Golan Heights.

In a letter sent to the chief of EU foreign policy Catherine Ashton, 23 members of European Parliament called for the suspention of EU-Israel Association Agreement.

It is very unique that such a significant, cross-party initiative has been taken by MEP`s to call outright for suspention of the Association Agreement.

In their letter MEP`s stated that:

“The Agreement is based on mutual respect for human rights and democratic principles, as explicitly stated in article 2 of the Agreement.

In March 2012, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution establishing a Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) with the mandate to examine and issue a report on how the illegal Israeli settlements impact on the human rights (all civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the right to self-determination) of Palestinians. Israel boycotted and refused to cooperate with the proceedings preventing the  entry of the FFM into the West Bank.

The FFM invited Palestinian victims and experts, including NGOs, to submit written submissions and oral testimonies in October 2012.