Ten years after the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip: solidarity with the Palestinian people

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Ten years since Israel's criminal aggression on the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, designated by the aggressor as 'Operation Cast Lead', the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC) reiterates is solidarity with the Palestinian people and their courageous struggle for a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine, along the pre-1967 borders, with capital in West Jerusalem, and for respect of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, as inscribed in numerous United Nations resolutions.

The brutal Israeli aggression provoked about 1300 deaths, including 400 children, and more than 5 thousand wounded on the Palestinian side.

This Israeli military aggression, far from unique, represented a serious escalation of violence against a largely unarmed population, blocked on all sides and forced to like in what many consider the 'largest open-air prison in the world', lacking minimal living conditions. In the following years, other massacres afflicted the Palestinian population, which continues to heroically resist the Israeli occupier and oppressor. During 2018, in the so-called 'Great March of Return', hundreds of Palestinian were murdered merely because their demanded what is rightfully theirs: their territories, illegally occupied and annexed by Israel.

At the same time, Israel continues the annexation of new Palestinian territories, through the construction of settlements, the 'Wall of Separation', and the installation of military control posts (the infamous 'checkpoints'). Israel continues the imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians, among which resistance leaders and deputies, and many children and youngsters.

The Israeli authorities also continued a racist and fascist drift in its policies, clear in the approval of the so-called 'Nation-State Law', which discriminates against Israeli citizens of Arab origin.

CPPC recalls, on the this occasion, that the State of Israel could not oppress the Palestinian people without the support of the USA and the connivance of the European Union, who give political and diplomatic cover, financial support and weapons to the occupation and expansionist policy of Israel.

CPPC rejects any initiative that in the framework of the EU aims to hinder solidarity with the just national cause of the Palestinian people, namely through its equivalence to 'anti-Semitism'.

O CPPC rejeita qualquer iniciativa que no âmbito da UE pretenda obstaculizar a solidariedade com a justa causa nacional do povo palestiniano, nomeadamente através da sua equiparação a 'anti-semitismo'.

For CPPC, we need to intensify solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people for their national rights: the end of Israeli occupation, massacres and oppression; the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons; the immediate end to the blockade on the Gaza Strip; the dismantlement of the 'Wall of Separation'; the end of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories; the creation of the Palestinian State and the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

CPPC appeals to all lovers of peace and national entities to intensify solidarity with the Palestinian people, recognizing and defending their legitimate rights.

National Leadership of CPPC

December 27th, 2018