The protests were against the destructive economic policies of the regime, its brutal violation of human and democratic rights and disregard for the ILO conventions regarding workers rights and its widespread corruption. Young people have been the main victims of the regime’s policies, including more than five million unemployed graduates. Those who came out were predominantly young and from poor working class districts demanding fundamental economic, social and cultural change for jobs, a living wage, dignity, respect and justice.

The recent decision of the U.S. Trump administration to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of the state of Israel has sparked outrage across the world. Israeli and Palestinian communist and left parties have denounced Trump’s decision, while the Communist Party of Greece stated that the decision “adds fuel to the fire” to “burn” the perspective of a Palestinian state. Below, you can read announcements by various Communist and Workers Parties:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the decision of US President Donald Trump, to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to shift the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv.

This action goes against the United Nations’ and the international community’s stand that  East Jerusalem is an occupied territory by Israel since 1967.  An independent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital is the internationally accepted position.  The United States has taken the formal step of legalizing the illegal occupation of Palestine territories by Israel.  No other country in the world has given recognition to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The United States is also responsible for scuttling any possible peace negotiations between the Israel and Palestine.  This decision by Donald Trump will trigger further tensions and conflicts in the region with global ramifications.

Unlike the worldwide opposition to this move, official spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs has scrupulously refused to criticize the US decision.  This shows the extent of servility of the Modi regime to the United States.

The Polit Bureau demands that the Modi government come out strongly disapproving of the US action, as it goes against India’s longstanding commitment to the Palestinian cause.

AKEL denounces the unilateral decision by the United States to proceed to the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which violates the resolutions and decisions of the United Nations on the special international status of the city. The status of Jerusalem is a central issue for a comprehensive solution of the Palestinian issue, and the position of the international community is that East Jerusalem will be the capital of the independent Palestinian state.

This provocative decision constitutes a flagrant violation of the Palestinian people’s national rights and represents support for the Israeli occupation, threatening to undermine the possibility of a two-state solution and to provoke new conflicts both in Jerusalem and in Palestine, and more broadly throughout the region.

We believe that the international community has an obligation to defend its decisions and principles of law, to uphold the right of the Palestinian people to an independent and viable state. This is a critical time during which the UN and the entire international community – together with the EU as well – must demand in practice the immediate termination of the 50-year Israeli occupation, the recognition of the independent Palestinian state – with East Jerusalem as its capital – as a full member of the UN.

We reiterate that the Cypriot government must adopt a position based on principles and stand against this decision otherwise it will be exposed in the eyes of the Arab world, but also the overwhelming majority of the international community.

AKEL reaffirms its full unreserved solidarity with the Palestinian people, which it will intensify in a variety of ways. The Palestinian people, like all the peoples of our region, have the right to freedom and peace.

AKEL has submitted a relevant resolution to the Cyprus Parliament.

The PCP strongly condemns the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel today announced by the US President, a decision that represents explicit US support for Israel’s Zionist policy and a frontal aggression on the martyred Palestinian people and provocation of the Arab peoples, with dangerous and unpredictable consequences.

The PCP considers this decision – which is associated with the announced transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem – which is all the more serious when it is taken at a time when plans for a new military escalation in the region are becoming increasingly clear with the danger of an enormous confrontation, with consequences far beyond the Middle East.

The PCP considers that the Portuguese Government should- in respect to the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and the decisions adopted by the Assembly of the Republic concerning the recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to the construction of the State of Palestine, on the pre- 1967 borders and with capital in East Jerusalem – unequivocally condemn the decision now taken by the US administration.

The US Administration’s decision – which openly violates International Law and numerous UN Security Council resolutions on the status of Jerusalem, starting with Resolution 478 that explicitly determines the withdrawal of the diplomatic missions from that city, as well as Resolution 2334 of December, 2016, which, condemning the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, reiterates that the status of Jerusalem can only be settled by way of negotiation – constitutes a new and serious obstacle to the necessary negotiated settlement of the Palestinian question and highlights the hypocritical role of the United States regarding the just resolution of the conflict.

The decision now taken cannot be separated from the US Administration’s measures to sabotage the nuclear agreement with Iran; from Israeli military aggressions on Syrian territory; from the announcements of the constitution of a “NATO of the Middle East” aimed at Iran and involving dictatorships of the Gulf; from the conflicts instigated by Saudi Arabia, a historical ally of the USA, against Yemen and other countries of the region; the upsurge of terrorist attacks in countries like Egypt; from the persistent declarations by Israeli leaders threatening direct military conflicts with Iran and Lebanon – a framework of widespread degradation of the situation being fostered by the more adventurous and bellicose sectors of imperialism, faced with an increasingly clear defeat of their plans of destabilization and terrorist chaos in Syria, thanks to the resistance of the Syrian people and the help it has received from other countries and forces, now targeted by these same sectors.

The PCP considers that measures should be taken at UN level to condemn and deter the US administration from a decision that constitutes a provocation and a very serious step in the escalation of tension and conflict in the Middle East.

The PCP reaffirms its long-standing solidarity with the Palestinian people and its legitimate and heroic seven-decade struggle for the right to a sovereign and viable state on the pre-1967 borders and with its capital in East Jerusalem, and respect for the right of return of the Palestinian refugees that Israel’s policy of expansion and occupation of Palestine generated.

Considering that solidarity with the Palestinian people is now more than ever necessary, the PCP calls on all peace-loving forces to express their firm opposition, not only against the measures now announced by the US administration, but also regarding the plans and threats of escalation of military aggressions, which have already destroyed several countries in the Middle East and represent a very real and serious threat to peace in the region and in the world.

It is pointless to look for a strategy on the Palestinian issue behind the US President’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The US imperialism has generated a plethora of “projects” from outright occupation to “moderate Islam”, from the so-called “Arab Spring” to the “fight against terror”, which all fizzled out and caused the major imperialist power to lose ground. On top of such unhindered descension, the ongoing fratricide among the dominant powers of the US has added insult to injury. Trump’s Jerusalem initiative is an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, i.e. to allow the US take initiative in the region on the one hand and to provoke the region in order to save his own skin on the other.

This attempt is doomed to failure; it can result in nothing but another fiasco.

Jerusalem has a status specified by international agreements and United Nations documents. The “two-state solution” prescribed for the Palestinian issue identifies East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent state of Palestine.

The United States and Israel have sabotaged all attempts to proceed in this direction for many years. These interceptions meant planting bombs on the road to a solution. Now, these bombs will explode in the hands of those who have planted them.

First of all, declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is not a decision that can gain recognition in the present state of world affairs. It is impossible to assemble a coalition with other imperialist powers, global and regional powers to legitimize such decision.

Secondly, the forces of peace are not as weak as they are supposed to be. Imperialism, which miscalculated the resistance against occupation in the Middle East, the secular and patriotic background of the region in recent years, is engaged in an attempt doomed to failure once again. The people of Palestine will resist. The forces of peace in Israel will resist. Peoples of the region who live in countries which are friendly to Israel and adherents and pawns of the US, will stand by the resistance.

Trump’s fantasy to kill many birds with one stone will certainly backfire; the illegitimate policies of the state of Israel will meet with the reaction and abomination of all humanity.

Communist Party of Turkey strongly condemns the US President’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and highlights that this is an utterly provocative attempt. Provocations can be circumvented only through the joint political action of peoples.

Enemies of the people have no place in this fight. The reactionary political powers in the region, firs and foremost the AKP, have no legitimacy whatsoever to take part in it. Tayyip Erdoğan is not embracing the seemingly anti-Israeli demagogy today for the first time. Erdoğan’s defiance is nothing but an empty threat. Just as it was years ago in Davos, during Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

The continuation of military cooperation between Turkey and Israel proved that this old demagogy was nothing but empty words. It became obvious as imperialism unleashed Turkey and Israel against Syria right off the bat. It became obvious as the massacres perpetrated by ISIS, which wreaked havoc on the region, gained the support of these countries. The fact that reactionism employs Islamist bigotry in Turkey and Jewish bigotry in Israel does not make any difference.

The fake reactions of the AKP and similar regimes in the region complement Trump’s sinister attempt. Provocation is welcomed with more provocation, and battle cries rang all around. Reactionism supposes that it can sustain its power by provoking peoples against each other.

In this very day, Communist Party of Turkey feels the necessity to underline the fact that reactionism is neither on the side of the Palestinian people, nor on the side of peace.

It is not impossible to make Jerusalem a center where peoples of diverse cultures, faiths and languages can and do live in peace side by side. Yet, it is time to remind ourselves that this objective can be attained only under socialism. The last assault of imperialism and Zionism shall not be an excuse to put other demands in front of the fight for peace and socialism. On the contrary, the fact that the threat of war could not be staved off so far proves that putting off the fight for socialism is a profound fallacy.

Communist Party of Turkey proclaims that the provocative decision about Jerusalem cannot gain validity in the face of the peoples’ will, and demands this dismal attempt to be revoked at once.

On this occasion, we once again demand to put an end to the occupation, to have an independent and sovereign state of Palestine to be established within 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, to have the Palestinian state accepted as a full member to the United Nations, to have Israeli military stop its invasion on Syrian and Lebanese territories, to have the blockade of Gaza lifted unconditionally and immediately, to have illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian territories abolished at once, to have the Jewish settlers leave Palestine, to have the wall of shame surrounding Palestine torn down, to have Palestinian refugees who have been forced to leave their homes to be able to return their lands, and to have all political prisoners in Israeli prisons to be released.

We repeat our solidarity with the toiling masses of Palestine, the forces of peace in Israel, and all oppressed, patriotic peoples of our region, and we hail the working classes of Israel and Palestine and the revolutionary, communist and peace loving  forces of resistance who represent them.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the decision of US President Donald Trump, to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to shift the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv.

The KKE denounces the barbaric attack of the forces of repression against mass organizations of poor farmers and agricultural workers in Calcutta, India, yesterday (22/5). The demonstrators, who had the support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the West Bengal Left Front, demanded relief measures and marched to the headquarters of the state government in order to hand over a memorandum with their demands. The forces of repression unleashed an assault , attacking the demonstration and journalists, with the result that 900 demonstrators were injured and 100 of them are in a critical condition.

International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE, 23.05.2017.