---

 Israel’s actions constitute genocide

Freedom from Debt Coalition

The Freedom from Debt Coalition condemns the savage destruction and atrocities that Israeli troops have unleashed upon the people of Gaza.

Israel’s claims of self-defense are clearly refuted by the disproportionate consequences of its aggression. With the death toll rising to 599, including 133 children, 33 women, and 6 medics, Israel can no longer hide the fact that its actions are tantamount to genocide, as Richard Falk, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, has pointed out.

We also denounce Israel’s allies and supporters, especially the United States of America, which supplies the bulk of weapons to the Israeli military, for their complicity in this despicable act of collective punishment being dealt to the Palestinians. The indiscriminate support of the United States is what has emboldened Israel to commit its latest aggression against a long-suffering people who want nothing more than to return to their homeland.

Never before has the international community been more united in its condemnation of Zionism than today. Now is the time to translate condemnation into action.

In solidarity with the Palestinians, and Israelis opposed to war, we call on individuals, global civil society members, governments, and other institutions and organizations to unconditionally demand the immediate termination of this bloodbath, the end of the air war, and the retreat of the Israeli army from the whole of Gaza.

We also support the demand to bring all those responsible for planning and ordering the invasion of Gaza and the massacre of civilians before the International Criminal Court to answer for their crimes against humanity.

---

 Stop the US-Israel Genocide in Gaza!

KPD

Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) strongly condemns the on-going attacks in Gaza that have killed more than seven hundred Palestinians, a third of whom are children.

Continued Israeli military operations have placed 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza at risk. Palestinian civilians bear the brunt of Israel’s bullets and bombs, a butchery that is inexcusable and violates international laws and human sensibilities.

The United States is equally to blame for the escalating conflict in Gaza. US support for Israel, including turning a blind eye to Israel’s human rights violations and violations of international laws and conventions, has only emboldened Israel to implement systematic genocide against Palestinians.

The fact that it is US-made F-16s and Apache helicopters flying above Gaza and US-made rockets, bullets and bombs tearing through buildings as well as bodies of hapless civilians makes the United States an accessory to mass murder.

Thus, US abstention in the recent UN Security Council Meeting (which it has previously blocked) is to be expected as Israel has been US’ partner in imposing dominance in the Middle East especially over the regions Black Gold and that no Arab state can rise up and challenge its dominance.

Israel’s justification for the attacks is unacceptable. Prior to the end of the six months truce, Palestinians were already dying from Israeli rockets, described as ‘preemptive strike’. Such an action was provocative, to say the least, coming at a time that the Hamas was for extending the truce. In fact, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is pounding densely populated areas, even schools and hospitals.

It is ironic that those who cried for justice against the Nazi’s “Final Solution” are now guilty of systematically cleansing the territories they covet of Palestinians. Those that survive the cleansing are driven away, making them refugees in nearby Arab states.

Israel’s war crimes must not go unpunished. We join the rest of freedom-loving people of the world in calling for the end to the hostilities in Gaza and that Israel is held liable for its actions against the people of Palestine. Any effort for peace is bound to fail if it does not take into account the roots of the conflict.

We call on the American people to push their government, especially under president-elect Barack Obama to stand true to his call for change by clearly calling for a cessation in the hostilities in Gaza as well as putting a stop to its military aid for Israel.

Lastly, we appeal to freedom-loving Filipinos to stand up and express their opposition to the US- sponsored Israeli war and its on-going occupation of Gaza. We enjoin them to boycott/ shun products of business that support the war in Palestine.

---

 Stop the Slaughter of Women and Children in Gaza

Women against War, Women for Genuine Peace and Security

We, women and different women’s organizations, have come together under Women against War, Women for Genuine Peace and Security to strongly condemn the on-going Israeli attacks on Gaza. We reject Israel’s justification that its air and ground strikes are acts of self-defense against terrorism. Rather, this pounding on Gaza is mass slaughter of Palestinians that include women, children and the elderly.

Palestinians have been dying even weeks before the end of a six-month truce in December 2008 from Israeli rockets that its defense forces fired at Gaza in so-called preemptive strikes. Death has now mounted to more than 800, including more than 200 children and almost a hundred women as Israeli shelling has been targeting houses of residents, schools, and even ambulances and mosques.

We likewise condemn Israel for not allowing the safe movement of aid workers and supplies for civilians especially for the wounded and the orphaned. This leaves children and the wounded at risk of dying of starvation, multiple infection and poisoning from the stench of the dead. This is a very inhuman way of further punishing the 1.5 million people in the narrow strip of Gaza who have been suffocating through an imposed 18-month siege that effectively cut off access of Palestinians to fuel, cooking gas, flour and basic necessities.

The United States is equally to blame for the escalating conflict in Gaza. It has been supporting Israel, its partner in imposing US’ dominance in the Middle East, through its $3B-$5B yearly aid mainly for the war machinery. By keeping silent and even by justifying Israel’s actions, it has been condoning Israel’s violations of human rights, international laws and conventions and even outstanding agreements with the Palestinians. By doing so, it has emboldened Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and attacks on other Arab people they consider as threats to their interests.

We appeal to all freedom-loving people to call for an end of the war in Gaza. The loss of human lives is intolerable. It is all the more reprehensible especially since the Israeli government intentionally bombed Gaza with full knowledge that civilians, who include Filipino migrants, would be killed in the process. Blood is clearly on their hands, and they cannot shift the blame on Hamas. Women and children are victimized by violence even in times of peace, in the Middle East as elsewhere. But war brutalizes them further and the rest of the civilian population. The ferocity of war in Gaza must stop immediately.

We call on the American people to press their government to give a clear-cut call for a ceasefire, stop sending military aid to Israel, stop fanning Zionism and altogether abandon its hegemonic designs.

We call for sanctions against Israel for its war crimes against humanity!

Finally, we call on the Philippine government to ensure the safety and security of Filipino migrants in Gaza.

---

 We Are All Palestinians!

Partido Lakas ng Masa:

The Partido Lakas ng Masa, Philippines, adds its voice to the international outrage and condemnation of the Israeli assault and now the ground assault of Israeli troops against a defenceless Palestinian people in the Gaza strip and stands as one with Hamas, the legitimate government of the Palestinian people in Gaza. In opposition to the brutal Israeli attack on Gaza we say: “We Are All Palestinians!”

At the same time we also draw attention to and condemn the backing of US imperialism for the Israeli state and US support for the current Israeli occupation and bombardment of Gaza. Without the support of world imperialism, and especially the support of the US, Israel cannot get away with such genocidal actions against the Palestinian population and continue to survive. We condemn the US and the Bush Administration support, as well as the US Congress vote in support of Israel’s most recent assault and occupation of Gaza.

In the same breadth we oppose any suggestion that Hamas is in any way equally responsible for the events unfolding. Hamas is a legitimate liberation movement struggling against the Israeli occupier and aggressor. Any condemnation and demands to end the war must be directed at Israel. The ’blame’ lies with the brutal Israeli occupation and aggression and not with the liberation movement fighting to free the Palestinian people.

We demand:
– Israeli troops out of Gaza now!
– Israel immediately halts the bombardment of Gaza!
– An immediate arms embargo against Israel!
– We call on the Philippines government to immediately freeze all diplomatic relations with Israel!

We also support calls for an international boycott of Israeli products and sanctions against Israeli investments. For example, we support the international campaign against Motorola and its fully-owned subsidiary Motorola Israel, to end its production and sales of all communications devices to the Israeli military, including all radar detection devices.

Ultimately, we stand by our principled support for a free, democratic and secular Palestine.

---

 Freedom For Palestine ! Freedom From Israel - US Terrorists!

Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan

The dawn of the New Year was indeed fiery for 1.4 million Palestinians living in the disputed Gaza Strip territory. Fireworks coming from cluster bombs dropped by Israeli assault jest have killed nearly 500 Palestinians, mostly innocent civilians, earmarking another genocidal war of aggression instigated by the US-backed Israeli government.

TV footages flashed by the international media showed the blatant extent of damage and casualties caused by the blitzkrieg. Bombs thrown daily and randomly across Gaza ’s vicinity pose imminent danger to the lives of innocent civilian.

This bloodshed is a result of the Israeli government’s diabolic desire for more political power by grabbing Gaza Strip from Palestine and controlling Palestinian affairs. It started when Hamas, a Palestinian political party that maintains a militant stance against Israeli aggression, legitimately dominated the Palestinian government via elections. Viewing them as a threat to its selfish interest over Palestine by unjustly tagging them as a “terrorist” organization, Israel pushed for the bloody war.

And the result was plain disaster for the Palestinians. If Hamas is the real terrorist, how come, according to international reports, that there is only one Israeli soldier killed compared to 100 killed Palestinians? And what right does Israel have in intervening with Palestine ’s internal affairs, in a nation duly recognized by the United Nations with its right to self-determination? And what right does Israel have in assaulting Palestine in a highly-offensive manner, with its airstrikes and all?

This atrocity must be stopped once and for all, for the sake of the millions of Palestinians waiting to be killed! We, from the Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK) in the Philippines demand for the:
– Total pull out of Israeli troops in Gaza now!
– Cessation of any armed hostilities and attacks in Gaza now!
– Immediate arms embargo against Israel !
– Philippine government to immediately freeze all diplomatic relations with Israel !

Moreover, we also condemn the ongoing support of the US government, the Bush administration, and the US Congress on Israel ’s aggression. Since 1976, Israel has been the largest recipient of direct economic and military assistance from the US . With its ongoing support to Israel ’s genocidal offensives, the US government must likewise be denounced!

We also call for our fellow youth and Filipinos to do their share in condemning Israel’s aggression by boycotting products with the bar code number “729” placed in the code’s first three digits. “729” stands for Israel ’s country prefix. We also call for the boycott of popular brands and products that consistently support Israel , which include Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Motorola, IBM, Intel, Nestle, Johnson’s and Johnson’s, Sara Lee, among others.

We will also conduct a series of protest actions and massive campaigns to denounce Israel ’s aggression over Palestine . We will join the international denunciation of several nations against the Israeli government. We encourage our fellow youth and students to join us and the rest of humanity in calling for peace and the end of war in Palestine .

May this inhumane display of ruthlessness and belligerence end once and for all! But this is only possible if we are united in our stand and action against this war.

A peaceful world lies in our hands! Stop Israel ’s war against Palestine! (6 January 2009)

---

 End US and Israel’s war of aggression against oppressed nations

Labor Party-Philippines Statement on Israel’s Occupation of Palestine

6 January 2009

The Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) joins the global call and campaign in stopping and opposing Israel’s brutal war of aggression against the Palestinian people.

The party is equally indignant over the indisposed stance of powerful nations, particularly the US, which eventually led to the shameful failure of the UN system to stop or prevent Israel’s bloody occupation of the Gaza Strip. The US government in particular should also be held responsible for its unconditional support for the aggressor party by providing Israel not only with modern weapons but also with the sanction to go for unilateral action, like what it did in Iraq.

During this time of severe global economic crisis, wars mainly serve the expansionist agenda of imperialist nations not the economic need of the oppressed, jobless and hungry people. The Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans, the Africans, Asians, Europeans — or the world’s peoples had had enough of wars. Amid the crisis, workers and poor people need no tanks and missiles but land and factories to work, not bullets but food, not destructive arms but public goods.

The mounting body count and pictures of destructions show the horrendous nature of this war. The Palestinian people are clearly suffering not from the wrath of a resentful and jealous god but from the evil deed of its neighbor which want another piece of land to grab. Thus, resisting and opposing past and present Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is a legitimate struggle workers around the world must recognize and support.

The aggression must be stopped and freedom be restored for Palestinian people. End the mass murder! Stop aerial and ground assaults against the Hamas and the civilian population. Israeli blockades must also be lifted to facilitate entry of medical and food supplies for the victims of war.

To end the escalation of war, further loss of lives and destruction, we demand the pullout of Israeli troops from the Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories and that Israel submit to international call for an immediate ceasefire.

Moreover, we also demand to the Philippine government to issue an official position opposing the war. While the interest of Filipinos in Palestine is a paramount concern, and for that matter the government must act with dispatch, expressing official government position or wisdom against the war, either in a bilateral or multilateral way or thru the UN system, would serve the best interest of our OFWs in particular, and the world peace in general.