REGIONAL NETWORKS
Condemn Israel’s Brazen Attack on the Freedom Flotilla
Focus on Global South
June 1, 2010
Focus on Global South condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack made by the Israeli army early morning of May 31 on an aid-carrying flotilla bound for Gaza. This is violence committed against civilians who were on a mission to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians. There was no reason or justification of whatever kind for this military action.
Media reports place the number of deaths at more than 10, with dozens more injured.
Dubbed the Freedom Flotilla, the convoy comprised six (6) ships with 600 people on board, including human rights activists, a Nobel laureate and several European legislators. The flotilla was on a mission to ship 10,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid, including cement, medicines, school supplies, among others to 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have been deprived of basic necessities and social services since the Israeli government imposed the embargo on the Palestinian community in December 2008.
Focus supported the formation of the Freedom Flotilla, contributing one of its staff members, Thomas Sommer, to the mission.
The flotilla sailed off a port in Cyprus on Sunday, May 30st, and reached on international waters early Monday morning. According to Free Gaza Movement, organizer of the flotilla, Israeli commandos intercepted the flotilla in international waters 65 kilometers off the Coast of Gaza, boarded the ships and opened fired. According to Al Jazeera, at least 15 people were killed and dozens were injured.
The international community immediately condemned the Israeli attack on the civilian Freedom Flotilla. In Turkey, thousands of people marched on the streets and attempted to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. The Turkish government was also reported to have summoned its ambassador to Israel to make known its protest. The Arab League said in a statement that “the attack clearly shows Israel’s aggressive nature and its disrespect to international and humanitarian rules and laws.”
Focus on the Global South adds its voice to this universal condemnation. It calls on the United Nations to immediately convoke a special session of both the Security Council and the General Assembly to impose sanctions on Israel for this grievous violation of human rights and international law. Along with the international community, Focus calls for an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the withdrawal of Israel from the Occupied Territories.
Media Liaison:
Clark Militante +639212750731
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific solidarity statement on the gaza flotilla
by Phil Lee —
Jun 03, 2010 10:13 AM
Justice for the Free Gaza flotilla victims and the Gaza people - end Israeli aggression now!
The women, children and men of Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific are outraged by the Israeli attack on the Free Gaza flotilla and the continued injustice towards the Gaza people. Israeli elite navy corps stormed the ships filled with civilians, killing 19 according to reports and injuring dozens. The attack done on international waters was an act of piracy. This marks the latest attack in an escalation of violence and repression against people standing up against Israeli crimes. Israel has decided to silence, by death or imprisonment, all those ready to speak out.
The Israeli attack was well prepared and according to Israeli news the political establishment had calculated that media backlash was less important than keeping the people in Gaza cut off from the world and humanitarian aid.
Not content with massacres against the Palestinian population, international solidarity is in Israel’s crosshairs now. People telling the true story, people defying the dictates of Israeli racist and colonial laws have become a threat to Israeli apartheid. Ironically, this brutal attack highlights the strength people can have when they are determined to resist power and injustice.
The suffering of the people in Gaza must end now! It is time to end Israeli apartheid, colonialism and aggression!
Hundreds of activists around Asia Pacific and the world protested the raid and the blockade - joining demonstrations around the world. Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific calls on all activists around the world to join in solidarity and hold protests and vigils in memory of the people killed on board the ships.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific urges international solidarity groups to work with even more determination to build a strong and effective movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions until Israel respects human rights and international law, and until justice prevails in Palestine.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific, calls on the United Nations, the European Commission and the United States of America to:
– Suspend trade agreements with Israel
– Condemn this violation of international law
– Provide humanitarian assistance to participants in the flotilla and act to lift the blockade of Gaza
– Call for the urgent establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry into the attack
The victims on board the Free Gaza flotilla may not be brought back, but with our concerted actions, we can make a difference and claim justice for the victims and stand with our sisters and brothers in Gaza.
PHILIPPINES
STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY FROM THE STOP THE WAR COALITION PHILIPPINES
Solidarity with the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza
More than 100 Philippine-based organizations under the Stop the War Coalition Philippines join the rest of the world in condemning the Israeli military assault on the humanitarian mission, Freedom Flotilla. The Flotilla’s six ships were on their way to deliver humanitarian aids—including medicines and school and construction supplies—to the blockaded Palestinians living in destitute conditions on Gaza strip. The attack which was made on international waters 65 kilometers off the Coast of Gaza and the detention of passengers after the Israeli forces dragged the ships to the port of Ashdod constitute what can be called state-sponsored terrorism that has no place in civilized society.
Despite the claims being made by the Israeli government, we believe that this military action, commando style, which took place on the early morning of May 31, was clearly—as shown in media reports and footages—unjustified and unprovoked. The Turkish government called it “state terrorism.” The Turkish-registered ship, Mavi Marmara, was the largest vessel in the flotilla, with some 600 delegates that included peace activists, volunteers, and Nobel laureate and European legislators. The international community is one in denouncing the attack and in holding the Israeli government responsible. Ambassadors from the 27 European Union countries condemned the incident on behalf of their governments. The United Nations permanent Security Council members—Britain, France, Russia and China—called for an independent inquiry and for the lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which began in 2008.
The flotilla was indeed the international community’s response to the long-running inhumane Israeli embargo on the Palestinian people. The world is no longer standing idly while 1.5 million civilians in Gaza live in destitution and deprivation as a result of the siege and blockade. The world is no longer keeping quiet about the Israeli government’s arrogance and utter disregard for human rights and international diplomacy as it continues to engage in actions that reveal a pattern of systematic assault against innocent men, women and children.
We hold liable the Israeli government and seek justice for the deaths, injuries and human rights violations that resulted from its military attack on Freedom Flotilla!
We demand an end to the Israeli blockade in Gaza!
STOP the War Coalition Philippines
INDIA
Condemn the Israeli Government’s act of terrorism against humanitarian aid workers
Demand International Sanctions on Israel
Demand an immediate end to India-Israel Arms deals
by CPI(ML) Liberation
In flagrant violation of all international laws, Israeli commandos attacked a flotilla of aid carrying ships, firing at and killing over 19 unarmed peace activists, leaving dozens others injured. CPI (ML) condemns this blatant act of war crime and a crime against humanity in no uncertain terms. The ships were part of a peaceful humanitarian response by citizens from 50 countries against the continuation of a three-year old unlawful siege which has resulted in great physical and mental distress to the 1.5 million people entrapped within Gaza.
The Israeli government and its propaganda machinery have predictably sought to show the attack as an act of self defence, with the Israeli PM, Binyamin Netanyahu, giving his “full backing” to the Israeli Defence Forces after the raid, and the Defense Minister Ehud Barak blaming the Flotilla organizers for inciting the attack. Outdoing the two, Deputy Defence Minister, Danny Alalon said that the activists aboard the ship were linked to international terrorist organizations and were trying to smuggle in arms, claiming shamelessly that weapons were found on board. Video footage of the assault clearly shows that the Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment they landed on the deck at peaceful civilians without provocation. In short, it was premeditated slaughter in cold blood.
The Israeli actions have prompted an avalanche of protests the world over calling for international sanctions and isolation of Israel, with several European countries summoning their Israeli ambassadors for explanation. Closer home, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued an insipid condemnation while choosing to be conveniently silent on the increasing strategic and military intimacy between India and Israel. The words of condemnation will remain hollow and ritualistic until all arms deals with Israel are scrapped.
Since 2008, Israel has gained the status of India’s top defence supplier. While these deals, secured in utmost secrecy, remain mired in corruption allegations, the moot issue is that through these deals India actually subsidises Israel’s massive war economy and in fact contributes to the killings of Palestinians.
CPI(ML) stands in solidarity with the demand for international sanctions against the state of Israel and demands for an immediate lifting of the blockade in Gaza.
CPI(ML) calls for an urgent scrapping of India’s military and strategic ties with Isreal.
CPI(ML) appeals all to protest against this blatant act of war crime and a crime against humanity.
Condemnation of Israel’s Attack on Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
MPPM
The Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement a coalition of more than a hundred multi-sectoral, peace and human rights organizations coming from the grassroots tri-peoples communities in Mindanao would like to add our voice to raging protests worldwide against Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla on international waters on the morning of May 31,2010 which resulted to the death of nine (9) peace and human rights activists while injuring others and the subsequent arrest of the MV Rachel Corrie on June 6,2010.
The Freedom Flotilla of six ships and the MV Rachel Corrie had for their passengers more than 600 peace and human rights activists coming from more than 40 countries. They were bringing with them much-needed humanitarian aid such as food, medical supplies, equipment, school materials and prefabricated cement to help rebuild the beleaguered Gaza Strip eversince Israel imposed a blockade when the Has-led government took power in 2007. This blockade has made Gaza the biggest concentration camp which deprived its citizens the basic necessities for a decent living much more for survival.
Israeli’s claim of self-defense in attacking the Freedom Flotilla in international waters is hardly believable and unjustified. It just showed the degree of its arrogance as it tries to show to the world that that it is beyond the reach of the law. It even has the temerity to announce to the world that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza despite the Report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict led by Justice Richard Goldstone on September 2009. The report presents strong evidence that during the war in Gaza, Israel engaged in war crimes that revealed a pattern of continuous and systematic assault against Palestinian people and land that has very little to do with Israel’s claim of security.
The Freedom Flotilla is an answer of many ordinary peace-loving citizens of the world who organized the ships and contributed to the bulk of humanitarian materials in an attempt to break the siege on Gaza when the world leaders turned a blind eye to the Genocide being committed by Israel. Its attack by Israel should be a challenge to international bodies, like the United Nations through its United Nations Security Council to stand firm and conduct an impartial investigation. Countries of the world should also unite in condemning this atrocities by imposing a Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against israel.
Let the sad fate of those who died in the Flotilla a challenge to the world’s humanitarian, peace and anti-war movements and all other movements involved in the solidarity campaign to steep up our efforts and initiatives. Let us make Palestine our rallying point in the struggle to free all the oppressed peoples of the world.
Justice to the victims of the Freedom Flotilla raid! Justice, Freedom ,Peace and
Dignity to the people of Gaza! We strongly demand, END THE SIEGE ON GAZA !
7th June 2010
Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM)
Cotabato City, Mindanao, Philippines
AUSTRALIA
Condemn Israel’s attack on the Gaza aid flotilla
Socialist Alliance statement May 31, 2010
Rudd must break ties with murderous Israel
Socialist Alliance condemns the completely unwarranted and murderous attack by Israel on the civilian Flotilla carrying aid to Gaza.
Media reports on May 31 say that between 16-20 people may have been killed and more than 30 injured after hundreds of masked Israeli commandos stormed the six vessels of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters off the coast of Gaza.
Al Jazeera reported that the ships are being towed by Israeli warships to the port of Haifa, instead of Ashdod, where dozens of journalists were awaiting the Flotilla’s arrival.
Protests erupted in Turkey and Gaza immediately, and are being organised around Australia for June 1.
It is not yet clear who from among the hundreds of activists on board the flotilla of ships, many of which were Turkish, has been killed.
Two Australians, among them well-known Sydney Morning Herald journalist Paul McGeough, were on board the flotilla. Their whereabouts is not known.
Not since the French Secret Service blew up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985 has there been such a brazen act of international piracy by a sovereign state. Governments all around the world have condemned the criminal actions of Somali pirates in international waters off the horn of Africa, and have even sent naval armadas to confront those pirates. The international community must now unreservedly condemn this criminal act of piracy on the high seas, and immediately sent an international naval armada to restrain the barbaric actions of the Israeli Navy.
We demand the Rudd government immediately condemn the killings of unarmed civilians, break off diplomatic relations with Israel and demand that the Flotilla is allowed to land unimpeded, and the aid delivered to the people of Gaza.
Most of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza rely on aid – which has been blocked by Israel and Egypt.
The Rudd government must demand that the siege of Gaza, imposed in 2007, be lifted immediately and that Israel recognise the democratically-elected Hamas government of Gaza.
Israel has once again violated international law and must be bought to justice for these and other war crimes.
For more information contact Pip Hinman 0401 760 577
***
Model motion to use in your trade union:
In view of the 31 May 2010 unprovoked attack by the Israeli Government military units and the murder of 19 peace activists who were part of the group seeking to deliver aid to Gaza, the (INSERT NAME OF TRADE UNION) calls on the Rudd government to immediately:
1. Condemn the Israeli government and military for this attack on a peace flotilla in international waters
2. Demand Israel lift the siege of Gaza, and allow the direct delivery of urgent medical supplies
3. Demand that the US stop military aid to Israel
4. Recogise the democratically elected and therefore legitimate Hamas government of Gaza
5. Break all ties with Israel until these measures have been carried out.
6. Support the Palestinian and their supporters in emergency protests which are taking across the country today and into the future.
****
Protests around Australia
Adelaide: Wednesday, June 2, 5pm on steps of Parliament House - protest organised by AFOPA Friday June 3, 3.30pm, Victoria Square, protest organised by Action for Palestine. Bring placards, banners, your friends and your outrage!
Brisbane: Tuesday June 1, 5-7pm, Brisbane Sq, Cnr Queen and George Sts.
Canberra: Candlelight vigil Tuesday June 1, 5pm outside Israeli Embassy, Thursday June 3, 4pm rally at Garema Place organised by AJPP and UnionsACT.
Melbourne: Tuesday June 1, 4.30pm, Cnr Bourke St Mall and Swanston, City.
Newcastle: Tuesday June 1, 4pm outside MP Sharon Grierson’s office, Hunter St, Newcastle.
Perth: Tuesday June 1, 5pm, Wesley Church, cnr William & Hay Sts, Perth. Organised by Friends of Palestine.
Sydney: Tuesday June 1, 5.30pm, Sydney Town Hall, organised by Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine.
Wollongong: Saturday, June 5, 12 noon, Outside Telstra building, cnr Crown and Kembla Sts, Wollongong.
* http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=947
***********
Links: photos and video of the protests in Australia in response to the Israeli attack on the aid ships (sent by Peter Boyle):
Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/peter.g.boyle/AgainInSolidarityWithGaza
My videos:
June 5, 2010, Sydney, Australia: Thousands took to the streets for the second time in less than a week to demand the end of Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza following the murderous Israeli commando assault on and unarmed aid convoy to Gaza on May 31:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfUz8nOjMhs
In the wake of the murderous Israeli commando attack on an unarmed aid flotilla to Gaza on May 31, more trade unions in Australia are joining the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign against Israel. Here Andrew Ferguson, the NSW Secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) addresses the Sydney June 5, 2010 Gaza solidarity rally. He is introduced by Pip Hinman of the Stop The War Coalition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxeluDkAJWA
Ophelia Haralgi, Pip Hinman, Sylvia Hale and Phil Monsour at the End The Siege of Gaza rally and march, Sydney , June 5, 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJLTfiaISko
There were also mass rallies in Brisbane, Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. In most cities there were two rallies last week!
PAKISTAN
Urgent: demonstration against Israel aggression in Pakistan
Pakistanis for Palestine condemns Israel’s attack on the International Freedom Flotilla
Pakistanis For Palestine will organize a protest demonstration against the Israel firing on the ship carrying aid to Gaza.
Today on Monday 31st May 2010 6pm at Lahore Press Club,
Labour Party Pakistan, Labour Education Foundation, Women Workers Help Line, National Trade Union Federation, Progressive Youth Front, National Student Federation, Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee and other political and civil society organization will participate in the demonstration.
In Karachi, LPP is also taking an initiative to call a Left Unity demonstration.
We call on all the organization to protest in strongest terms against the Israel aggression and American Imperialism.
Pakistanis for Palestine condemns Israel’s attack on the International Freedom Flotilla
Press Statement
Pakistanis for Palestine condemns the naked aggression of the Israeli Defense Forces against the international “Freedom Flotilla”, the convoy of ships attempting to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip that has been unilaterally blockaded by Israel since June 2007. The ships were in international waters, about 150 km off the coast of Gaza, where Israel has no jurisdiction.
Current death toll: 20, Injured: more than 60
We demand:
1. That the United Nations include the Israeli Defense Forces in its list of terrorist organizations and put Israel on the list of states that officially sponsor terrorism;
2. That “the international community” end its hypocritical attitude towards Israel and authorize international news media to report objectively on acts of Israeli aggression; and
3. That Pakistan should use its status as the most important non-NATO ally of the US to pressure it to punish Israel for this gross violation of international humanitarian law
It is time for people of conscience all over the world to demand the end of the apartheid regime in Israel, the last colonial state in this post-colonial world, and to join the worldwide movement for the Boycott of, Sanctions on and Divergent from all organizations and entities that support the racist ideology of Zionism.
For more information on the BDS campaign, see: http://bdsmovement.net/
We subscribe to the three principles laid out in the Palestinian call for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel that calls on Israel to:
1. End its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
For more information, see: http://www.pacbi.org/campaign_statement.htm
We call on all Pakistanis who support the principles listed above to join the campaign.
Please contact us at:
Email address: PakistanisForPalestine gmail.com
Online petition: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFNRb2pFbXQwT2ZXa2VHNUg1Zk01S0E6MA
*****
Karachi: Meeting against Israeli aggression
Left parties, student, workers and social organizations including individuals has decided to held press conference on 1st June,Tuesday at 2.30pm sharp at Karachi Press club against Israeli military’s brutal and bloody attack on aid ship,killing 20, injuring 60.
After the press conference date and other details for big rally in support of Palestinian will be decided.
Meeting was attended by Yusuf Masti Khan, Usman Baloch(Workers Party Pakistan), Nasir Mansoor, Mukhtiar Raho(Labour Party Pakistan), Salim Akhter,(Communist Party Pakistan), Hassan Nasir, Ramazan Mamon, farhat Perveen (Awami Party Pakistan),Mazhar Rahojo(Awami Tehreek), Khaliq Junejo(Jey Sindh Mahaz), Karamat Ali (PILER), manzoor Razi(Railway Workers Union), Ghani Zaman (National Trade Union Federation), Mohammed Mian(Journalist,Jamhori Mahaz), Roshan Kalhoro (Pakistan Trade Union Federation),Zehra Akber Khan(Labour Education Foundation), Ali Nasir (Pakistan Madoor Mahaz),Tamyaseen Din(Child and Labour Rights),Dr Nisar(Peace Social Council) comrade Shabir Azad,Khuram (National Student Federation), Sherbaz (Progressive Youth Front).
Nasir Mansoor
*******
Condemnation of Israel’s Attack on Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
The Labour Party Pakistan strongly condemns the attack of Israeli commandos on a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. The murderous attack has brutally killed up to 20 people and wounded more than 30 people.
The six-ship flotilla, carrying 10, 000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, was an attempt by activists mainly from Turkey including Pakistan to defy a blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza since Hamas took power in Palestine in 2007. The blockade by Israel has apparently turned Gaza into the largest concentration camp in the world, with most of the 1.5 million Palestinians living there denied access to the most basic needs such as food, water and medicine.
This is not the first time the US-backed Zionist regime of Israel has committed such atrocities. From December 2008 to January 2009, the Israeli armed force committed a massacre which killed more than 1400 people and wounded over 5300 people in Gaza over 3 weeks.
The attack on humanitarian aid to Gaza has again revealed the true nature of the Zionist Israeli state – a racist state founded on the mass expulsion of the Palestinians. The genocidal regime of Israel has been supported by imperialist powers like US and its allies. These imperialist powers are continuing to provide financial support and weapons supply to Israel in order to carry on its siege on Gaza.
The LPP demands that:
– Israel immediately end the siege of Gaza, and allow all humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.
– Governments all over the world have to condemn the killing of unarmed civilians by Israeli troops and bring Israel to justice for its war crimes.
– US and its allies stop all military aid to Israel and impose an arms embargo against Israel.
– LPP demand the immediate recovery of Talat Hussain and the two other activists, there is no news about the three
The LPP extends its solidarity with the people of Palestine as well as people who support the Palestinians’ struggle for justice. A lasting peace in the Middle East will only prevail if justice is upheld for the Palestinian people and imperialism is defeated.
We also endorse the following statement of the campaign Pakistanis For Palestine
Pakistanis for Palestine condemns Israel’s attack on the International Freedom Flotilla
Press Statement
Pakistanis for Palestine condemns the naked aggression of the Israeli Defense Forces against the international “Freedom Flotilla”, the convoy of ships attempting to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip that has been unilaterally blockaded by Israel since June 2007. The ships were in international waters, about 150 km off the coast of Gaza, where Israel has no jurisdiction.
Current death toll: 20, Injured: more than 60
We demand:
1. That the United Nations include the Israeli Defense Forces in its list of terrorist organizations and put Israel on the list of states that officially sponsor terrorism;
2. That “the international community” end its hypocritical attitude towards Israel and authorize international news media to report objectively on acts of Israeli aggression; and
3. That Pakistan should use its status as the most important non-NATO ally of the US to pressure it to punish Israel for this gross violation of international humanitarian law
It is time for people of conscience all over the world to demand the end of the apartheid regime in Israel, the last colonial state in this post-colonial world, and to join the worldwide movement for the Boycott of, Sanctions on and Divergent from all organizations and entities that support the racist ideology of Zionism.
For more information on the BDS campaign, see: http://bdsmovement.net/
We subscribe to the three principles laid out in the Palestinian call for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel that calls on Israel to:
1. End its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
For more information, see: http://www.pacbi.org/campaign_statement.htm
We call on all Pakistanis who support the principles listed above to join the campaign.
Please contact us at:
Email address: PakistanisForPalestine gmail.com
Online petition: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFNRb2pFbXQwT2ZXa2VHNUg1Zk01S0E6MA
MALAYSIA
Condemnation of Israel’s Attack on Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) strongly condemns the attack of Israeli commandos on a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. The murderous attack has brutally killed up to 10 people and wounded more than 30 people.
The six-ship flotilla, carrying 10, 000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, was an attempt by activists mainly from Turkey to defy a blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza since Hamas took power in Palestine in 2007. The blockade by Israel has apparently turned Gaza into the largest concentration camp in the world, with most of the 1.5 million Palestinians living there denied access to the most basic needs such as food, water and medicine.
This is not the first time the US-backed Zionist regime of Israel has commited such atrocities. From December 2008 to January 2009, the Israeli armed force committed a massacre which killed more than 1400 people and wounded over 5300 people in Gaza over 3 weeks.
The attack on humanitarian aid to Gaza has again revealed the true nature of the Zionist Israeli state – a racist state founded on the mass expulsion of the Palestinians. The genocidal regime of Israel has been supported by imperialist powers like US and its allies. These imperialist powers are continuing to provide financial support and weapons supply to Israel in order to carry on its siege on Gaza.
The PSM demands that:
– Israel immediately end the siege of Gaza, and allow all humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.
– Governments all over the world have to condemn the killing of unarmed civilians by Israeli troops and bring Israel to justice for its war crimes.
– US and its allies stop all military aid to Israel and impose an arms embargo against Israel.
The PSM extends its solidarity with the people of Palestine as well as people who support the Palestinians’ struggle for justice. A lasting peace in the Middle East will only prevail if justice is upheld for the Palestinian people and imperialism is defeated.
Release by
Choo Chon Kai
International Bureau
Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
INDONESIA
Justice and freedom for Palestine now
Joint Statement - June 3, 2010
Stop the slaughter of the Palestine people
Fight Zionism and Israel’s political apartheid
Justice and freedom for Palestine now!
Israel’s attack on a convey of six ships transporting humanitarian assistance
for Gaza, the Freedom Flotilla, in international waters, resulted in the death
and injury of civilians from several countries. On one of the ships, the Mavi
Marmara, carrying 600 civilian passengers, was stormed in the by Israeli
soldiers dropped by helicopter in the pitch-black of night, who attacked using
live ammunition. Meanwhile, of course, the passengers, although unprepared, were
forced to fight back with whatever came to hand.
The Freedom Flotilla was a mission organised by a coalition of organisations
from 50 countries aiming to help break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
that has been in place since 2007. Seven hundred civilian activists from 50
countries set out for Gaza with more than 10,000 tons of drugs, food, medical
supplies, building reconstruction equipment and other materials that the people
of Gaza can no longer obtain. For a year now the people of Gaza have not even
had access to clean water and electricity because of the blockade.
How is it not possible that the attack on the Freedom Flotilla is not being
condemned as a shockingly brutal and inhuman act, which has trampled on
international law and human rights? It is time for the entire world’s people to
condemn this act of aggression and build solidarity with Gaza until it is
liberated and Palestine can stand tall as an independent country.
Tens of thousands of Turkish people immediately took to the streets following
the attack on the Freedom Flotilla; 1,000 people in Britain called for
“Palestine independence” and Israel’s actions a war crime; 1,200 people in Paris
took to the streets to battle police blockades and call for safety of the
Palestine people; 3,500 people in Greece spread through two cities in solidarity
and battled tear gas fired by Greek police; thousands of Palestine refugees and
Lebanese people flew the Palestine flag asking, "Were is human rights? Where is
international commitment?"; in Beirut hundreds of people called for the closure
of the Israeli Embassy; in Libya 3,000 protesters condemned Israel and the
United States as its traditional ally; in Saudi Arabia and Amman city thousands
of people took to the streets; in Iran protesters burn Israeli flags and
pictures of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; in Pakistan lawyers and
journalists protested; 6,000 people marched through the streets of Stockholm;
and thousands of other did likewise in Belgium, Copenhagen and The Hague; there
was even a protest by hundreds of people in Israel itself causing the military
to increase security and declare the country under state of emergency.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Danny Ayalon stated that Israel’s
military action was “self-defense” because “at least two weapons were found” and
the organisers of the Freedom Flotilla "were well known and have links with
international terrorist organisations". How can such an explanation be accepted
when the public was able to witness television broadcasts of fully armed Israeli
troops dropping from helicopters and attacking the ships. Of course the right to
“self-defense” lay with the passengers, but which was not automatically used
because they were endeavoring to assure the world that the ships carried
civilian passengers on a humanitarian mission. And the attack was clearly
premeditated since Israel had early threatened to stop the Freedom Flotilla.
The attack on the Freedom Flotilla adds to a long series of crimes by Israel,
which has its roots in Zionism, colonialism and the politics of apartheid.
Before this there was the slaughter of 1,400 civilians in Gaza on December 2008
and in January 2009 there were the plainly visible crimes that pushed the
international community to campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).
This and other such campaigns however have not been able to force world
government to condemn the Israeli government and bring it before the
international court. The US, Israel’s closest patron and criminal ally, stands
at the forefront in defending this perpetrator of war crimes and human rights
violations.
With the support of Britain and the US, the Israeli political leadership has
colonised Palestine since 1948, and forcibly established the state of Israel on
Palestine land. This is the substance of Zionism that has become the source of
disaster that plays the ordinary people off against each other (the Palestinian
and Israeli people). The Israeli government has pushed through the expansion of
Israeli settlements in areas under the Palestine authority in Gaza and the West
Bank. A thick steel wall has even been constructed around Gaza; blockading the
Palestinian people from access to clean water, food, medicines and even
education. Tens of thousands of ordinary people in Gaza are forced to suffer and
are being slowly impoverished and wiped out by the Israeli government. This is
the politics of apartheid as a manifestation of racism and genocide against the
Palestine nation; similar to what was done in the past by Hitler against the
Jewish people — and now the Jewish-Zionists are doing the same thing to the
Palestinian nation. Of course not all Jews agree with Zionism, because those
that do not are challenging this within the Israeli state itself or by joining
the Palestinian solidarity community in different countries.
The US and Britain are the guard dogs of Zionist-Israeli interests in the
international community, while Israel is the guard dog of US and British
capitalism in the Arabian peninsula, and the United Nations a pawn controlled by
the kings and queens of the US and Britain, which has been unable move in this
case. A criminal alliance, which for the sake of its continuity, spreads the
politics of the “war against terror”, which in turn spread hatred against the
Arab people and distrust against Islam (Islamaphobia). This “war on terror”
further complicates broadening solidarity for Palestinian independence, because
Israel and pro-Israeli governments arbitrarily declare that it is the
Palestinian people who are carrying out acts of terror so they construct a wall
and carry out attacks. The armed resistance carried out by the Palestinian
people is a direct consequence of colonialism, Zionism and Israeli apartheid,
not the cause. Yet Israel’s acts of terror, both through arms and the expansion
of Israeli settlements — which is causing the Palestinian land to progressively
shrink — continue to occur without the predicate of political terrorism in the
US and its allies’ “war on terror”.
There is already enough evidence; the slaughter of the Palestinian people must
stop; Zionism and Israeli apartheid must be opposed; the US and British
governments defense of Israel must stop.
In our country meanwhile, is the condemnation against Israel and the support for
Palestinian independence by the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
and Vice President Boediono and the House of Representatives (DPR) evidence that
they are pro-Palestine? No. They do this simply to curry favour with the Muslim
community. This is because the government and the political parties, the
ruminants of former Suharto’s New Order regime and the fake reformists in the
DPR, are all pro-US. How is it possible to support Palestinian independence
while supporting US policies? This is a double-standard and an opportunist stand
on the Palestinian people’s human rights. Similar behaviour has also occurred in
many other Arab countries. Not one of the capitalist countries and governments
in the world has an interest in opposing the governments of Israel, the US or
Britain.
For these governments, the interests of capital are number one and stand above
human rights anywhere. So they close their eyes to Zionism, dictatorships,
Apartheid, genocide and gross human right crimes. Except when the people
mobilise to voice their demands — and the interests of capital are threatened -
– only then they are they forced to take action. They will not take any action
whatsoever for humanitarian reasons, but will do so in the interests of capital.
Such are the world’s owners of capital, the world’s capitalists.
Only two countries have been consistent, courageous and concrete in defending
Palestinian independence in world forums. They are Cuba and Venezuela. This has
ranged from sending doctors and medical assistance, to walking out of UN
sessions and anti-Palestine US government speeches. Not one Arab country,
countries which are Islamic, has been prepared to take such courageous action.
Not one Arab country, except Iran, has been prepared to say NO to the capitalist
US. As long as the Arab countries and the Muslim majority countries of the world
remain loyal to capitalism, then Palestine will unable to be free.
This is why solidarity with Palestine must be placed within the context of the
fight against international capital. This is why we need to replace the pro-
capitalist governments in our respective countries. So that a new international
social system can be created, and all colonialism on the face of the earth be
eliminated.
These are the solidarity campaigns that we can carry out in cooperation with the
world’s poor for Palestinian freedom and to fight against global capital:
1. A boycott campaign and sanctions against Israel;
2. Build even more Palestinian solidarity committees;
3. Build the movements against policies that are pro-capitalist and pro-the
governments of the US and Britain in our own countries;
4. Build the solidarity movement in support of those countries fighting against
capitalism and supporting Palestinian independence such as Cuba and Venezuela;
5. Build the movement to fight against the domestic capitalist agents: the
Yudhoyono government, the Now Order remnants and their parties and the fake
reformists in parliament.
6. Participate in the international fight for Palestinian liberation, ending the
terror in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic blockade against Cuba.
True, the problems within our own country are still huge with the lives of
Indonesia’s poor and working class steadily worsening. But who will help us if
we do not first help others? It is precisely because we face a common fate that
we must unite with the poor throughout the world to fight the cause of
oppression and global poverty: capitalism. And most of those currently fighting
for this in the world — students, the working class, women and so forth, are
the ordinary people who are being impoverished by international capital.
Because of this therefore we call for the world’s poor and working class to
unite in struggle!
Jakarta, June 3, 2010
This joint statement was issued by:
– The Political Committee of the Poor-Peoples Democratic Party (KPRM-PRD),
– The Indonesian Labour Movement Union Preparatory Committee (KP-PPBI),
– The Political Union of the Poor (PPRM)
– The Center for Student Mobilisation for National Liberation (PEMBEBASAN,
formerly LMND-PRD),
– The Perempuan Mahardhika (Free Women) National Network (JNPM)