On the day that mark the 50th anniversary of the Israeli military occupation, in 1967, of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and West Jerusalem, and also in the Syrian Golan Heights, as part of the Egyptian Sinai and Lebanese Shebaa Farms, the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC) reaffirms its solidarity and determination in pursuing its historic intervention for the just cause of the Palestinian people.
We vehemently condemn the terrorist attacks in Iran, at two of the most symbolic places in the Persian country - the Parliament and the shrine of a leader of the 1979 Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, this Wednesday, 7.
We have received reports of the terrorist attacks on the Majlis, Iranian Parliament, in the heart of Tehran, and also in the grounds of Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in south Tehran. According to some reports, the Daesh (Islamic State) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for these murderous and inhumane acts. There are reports of several fatalities and injuries.
Given the announced continuation, in Rabat, Morocco, on June 5th, of the trial of a group of Sahrawi prisoners in Moroccan prisons — known as the Gdeim Izik group —, the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC) reaffirms its repudiation for this political trial, the demand for the release of these activists and its solidarity with the Sahrawi people.
On International Children's Day, marked today, the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation reaffirms its commitment to the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Rights of the Child, approved by the United Nations in 1959, which attributed them the right to equality, food, housing, health, free education, rest, social protection and priority care in case of catastrophe, special protection aimed at the physical, mental and social development, against abandonment and child labor, and to grow in a «a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples».
The Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation, continuing the long standing campaign against NATO in Portugal, carried out a number of initiatives alongside other Portuguese organizations, giving these year focus on the holding of NATO’s summit in Brussels and its objectives.
Saluting the victory of the "Freedom and Dignity" protest, and the end of the hunger strike last, Saturday May 27th, held by the Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, following negotiations and the commitment by Israeli authorities to meet several of the protesters demands, we divulge a text cosigned by 25 Portuguese organizations made public on May 25th:
On 17 April, about 1500 Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons for resisting occupation and repression launched a hunger strike, the «strike for freedom and dignity».
Anti-imperialist and anti-NATO rally and march was held by EEDYE in the city of Chania/Crete, followed by a militant mass protest and march towards the US/NATO air base of Souda on Sunday 28th May 2017.
The World Peace Council concluded successfully its anti-NATO actions in Brussels, as decided in its last World Assembly in Brazil last year, under the campaign “Yes to Peace-No to NATO”.
On Saturday May 20 2017 a demonstration against NATO took place on Wenceslas Square in the centre of Prague, Czech Republic. Protest was organised by the Czech Peace Movement in the framework of the international campaign of the World Peace Council "YES TO PEACE! NO TO NATO!" and was directed against the upcomming NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium.
