Friday, December 15, 2017

Palestinian People’s Party – Communist Party of Israel: Joint Call against Trump’s policy on Jerusalem

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/12/palestinian-peoples-party-communist_15.html

The Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) and the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) severely condemn US President Donald Trump’s December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision which is both a blatant attack on the rights of the Palestinian people and a significant blow to the requirements for a just peace based on UN resolutions adopted by most countries and the overwhelming majority of peoples worldwide.

The US policy supporting Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories since 1967 can only lead to a resurgence of chaos and instability throughout the region and the world. The newly announced American policy regarding Jerusalem assures that the United States will continue to remain part of the problem, rather than serve as a positive factor in achieving a solution. There is no solution to the conflict other than ending the Israeli occupation and fulfilling the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination by establishing an independent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital and resolving the refugee issue in accord with UN General Assembly resolution 194.

Trump’s decision flies in the face of international law, UN Security Council resolutions, and global unanimity about Jerusalem’s being occupied territory. The newly declared policy of the US administration obliges us to mobilize our efforts to isolate, confront and utterly remove it from the agenda of the International community.

The tripartite alliance between US-led imperialism, illegal Zionist settlements and annexation fostered by the Israeli government, and the forces of reactionary Arab regimes is absolutely antithetical to the inalienable national and historical rights of the Palestinian people. The failure of this alliance’s plans in the region until now – in particular in Syria and Yemen – is spurring it on to play the Palestinian card for all its worth and extort the Palestinian leadership into surrendering to what Trump would have us believe is “the deal of the century.”

To confront this cynical alliance we need to both broaden and strengthen international solidarity with the cause of the Palestinian people and intensify pressure on the Israeli government of occupation. The PPP and CPI call upon all Communist and workers’ parties and all progressive and democratic forces around the world to escalate their struggle against the Israeli occupation, to increase their solidarity with and commitment to the Palestinian people and its legitimate rights, and to support a just and comprehensive peace in the region based on the respect of all peoples’ rights to live in freedom and independence.

Source: maki.org.il.

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/12/communist-party-of-israel-and-hadash.html

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and Hadash strongly condemn Trump’s decision on Jerusalem

The Communist Party of Israel and Hadash – the Democratic Front for Peace & Equality- strongly condemn the US president’s, Donald Trump, statement concerning Jerusalem; a statement which denies the rights the Palestinian people have in the city.

This statement is  the outcome of the alliance between the US administration, the Israeli government and the reactionary Arab regimes and their escalating conspiracies against the just rights of the Arab Palestinian people- and mainly against his right to self determination: an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital according to the UN resolutions. This alliance’s stand had never been more clear and obvious in context of, both, the Palestinian case and the overall developments in the region.

Trump’s statement stresses out what we have been saying: the US is part of the problem rather than the solution. The door must open widely now for  the international community to play a key role through promoting the political process, based upon the UN resolutions as adopted by most countries and the vast majority of peoples on this planet.

This statement seems to not have an affect de-facto, it rather aims to conceal the internal and external crisis of the Imperialism, Zionism and Reactionary- and the failure of its plans in the region. Add to that, Netanyahu’s need to distract the public from the ongoing corruption investigations against him. The populist harmony in which the “opposition” forces in Israel engage with Trump and Netanyahu’s adventures – reflects, in fact, their political bankruptcy and inability to propose a genuine alternative to the occupation and settlements policy as well as it proves their rejection to a just peace.

The need of the hour is to raise the voices of protestation all around the world, against those policies and their leaders, including the voice of the true forces of peace in Israel.

CPI and Hadash call upon all anti-occupation forces, Arabs and Jews, to cooperate in promotion of the only solution that preserves the rights and bloods of both peoples: Ending the occupation and the establishment of the Palestinian independent state on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel with West Jerusalem as its capital.

* * * 

حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني أقوى من الثالوث الدنس

يدين الحزب الشيوعي الإسرائيلي والجبهة الدمقراطية للسلام والمساواة بشدّة تصريح الرئيس الأمريكي دونالد ترامب بشأن القدس، والذي يتنكر لحق الشعب الفلسطيني في المدينة.

إنّ هذا التصريح هو ثمرة تحالف الإدارة الأمريكية وحكومة إسرائيل وأنظمة الرجعية العربية وتآمرها المتصاعد على الحقوق الشرعية للشعب العربي الفلسطيني، وعلى رأسها حقه في تقرير مصيره وإقامة دولته المستقلة وعاصمتها القدس الشرقية، بمقتضى قرارات الأمم المتحدة. لقد بات هذا التحالف مكشوفًا ومفضوحًا اكثر من أي وقت مضى، في سياق القضية الفلسطينية كما في مجمل التطوّرات الإقليمية. إنّ تصريح ترامب يؤكد ما قلناه دومًا: أنّ الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية هي جزء من المشكلة، لا من الحل. ويجب أن يفتح الباب على مصراعيه أمام دور دولي فاعل لتحريك العملية السياسية، على أساس قرارات الأمم المتحدة والتي تتبناها معظم دول العالم والأكثرية الساحقة من شعوب الأرض.

وبيد أنّ هذا التصريح لا يغيّر شيئًا على أرض الواقع، فإنه يهدف لصرف الأنظار عن أزمة هذا الثالوث – الإمبريالية والصهيونية والرجعية – وفشل مشاريعه في المنطقة، وعن أزماته الداخلية، لا سيما قضايا الفساد التي تحيق بنتنياهو. إنّ التساوق الشعبوي لقوى “المعارضة” مع مغامرات ترامب ونتنياهو يعكس إفلاسها السياسي وعجزها عن طرح بديل حقيقي لسياسة الاحتلال والاستيطان ورفض السلام العادل.

إنّ مطلب الساعة هو رفع صوت الاحتجاج في كافة أنحاء العالم ضد هذه السياسة وضد أصحابها، بما في ذلك صوت قوى السلام الحقيقية في إسرائيل. ويدعو الحزب الشيوعي والجبهة جميع القوى العربية واليهودية المناهضة للاحتلال إلى أوسع تعاون لطرح الحل الوحيد الذي يضمن حقوق الشعبين ويحقن دمائهما: إنهاء الاحتلال وإقامة دولة فلسطينية في حدود العام 1967 عاصمتها القدس الشرقية، إلى جانب دولة إسرائيل وعاصمتها القدس الغربية.

* * *

TUESDAY 12 DECEMBER: DEMONSTRATION IN TEL AVIV AGAINST TRUMP’S DECISION ON JERUSALEM.

The umbrella organization that represents Arab-Palestinians in Israel has urged its followers to join the protests against President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel announced that they reached an agreement to oppose Trump’s announcement following an emergency meeting in Nazareth. “United States policy and Trump are the problem, not the solution,” said Committee Chairman and former Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh.

Barakeh called on the Arab states not to suffice with simple condemnations, but to withdraw their ambassadors from Washington, adding that “recent developments illustrate the depth of the strategic alliance between the Trump government, the Netanyahu government and the Arab reactionary regimes, primarily Saudi Arabia against the rights of the Palestinians and against the minimum conditions for a just and lasting peace based on decisions decided by the United Nations.”

Numerous protest groups have already been demonstrating at major junctions across Israel. On Thursday, December 7, a demonstration was held by Hadash and Communist Party activists in Nazareth. A large protest took place Saturday night, December 9, in Wadi Ara.

In addition, the High Follow-Up Committee is scheduled to meet with prominent officials from the Palestinian Authority on Sunday in Jerusalem in order to coordinate their next steps. On Monday, a protest will take place during the visit of the US Deputy Secretary of State to the Knesset and on Tuesday evening, December 12, a demonstration will take place in front of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Israeli and Palestinian communists denounce Trump’s decision on Jerusalem

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/12/israeli-and-palestinian-communists.html

Israeli and Palestinian Communist Parties have reacted to U.S. President Donald Trump’s provocative decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Below you can read statements by parties such as Hadash, the CP of Israel, the Palestinian CP and the Palestinian Peoples’ Party.

Hadash / Communist Party of Israel (CPI)

According the official website of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), the intention to transfer the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “provoked reactions of outrage” among the ranks of the CPI, including the members from the Joint List of the Democracy Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) in the parliamentary assembly of Israel, Knesset.

“Trump is a crazy pyromaniac capable of setting the entire region ablaze with his madness,” stated the leader of the Joint List, Members of Knesset (MK) Ayman Odeh. “If there is one thing that the past few days have proved, it’s that the US shouldn’t remain the sponsor for discussions between Israel and the Palestinians,” Odeh added. “If the Israeli government wishes for the world to recognize West Jerusalem as the Israel’s capital, all it needs to do is recognize East Jerusalem as the capital city of Palestine.”

Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) attacked the decision of US president Donald Trump to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. “The decision to move the embassy cripples the peace process and the chances of reaching a diplomatic agreement in the region,” Touma-Sliman said. “As long as Israel refers to Jerusalem as a ‘united’ city and occupies the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Trump’s decision will significantly harm the rights of the Palestinian people to liberty and self-determination in its future capital, East Jerusalem.”

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned on Sunday, December 3, against US plans to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying that such a move “would endanger the future of the political process in the region.” According to Palestine’s official news agency WAFA, Abbas expressed his outrage and concern in a meeting with a delegation from the Hadash in Ramallah. President Abbas added that Arab countries, including Palestine, and the international community would not recognize such a move by the US administration.

Earlier Sunday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki called on the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene to discuss the situation regarding Jerusalem. Al-Maliki warned that such a US move “would have grave consequences” and would “blow up the situation in the Palestinian territories and throughout the region.”

Jerusalem remains at the core of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict, as Palestinians want Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state of their own.

* * * 

Palestinian Communist Party (PCP)

The statement reminded that the historical Zionist occupation of Palestinian land would not have occurred without the support of British and American imperialism forming this usurper entity, which since its inception is confiscating the land and deporting the people of Palestine.

The Communist Party of Palestine named the transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem as “a declaration of war” on the people of Palestine and its national cause. “This obliges us to unite and end the Palestinian division quickly and properly, the only viable option remaining before our people is massive resistance” said the statement.

It was observed that the American attack on the rights of the Palestinian people regarding its defeat “by the axis of resistance” in the region means that the arrogance of US policy is challanging the Palestinian people, free Arab nations and the world.

The statement underlined that the central focus in the face of the Trump attack is the masses of the Palestinian people, its national resistance. It said that this requires to draw a policy of confrontation including; 

– Unifying of all factions on the Palestinian arena and the restoration of the PLO on the basis of a revolutionary democracy. 

– Re-considering the Charter of the PLO and replacing the two-state solution with the one-state democratic solution, which requires a struggle by all means. 

- Meeting all the factions of the national action to prepare for a third uprising, led by the factions of resistance.

- Emphasizing the need to overcome regional agendas or commitments. 

– Giving a larger role for the masses through the people’s congresses, a General People’s Congress, in the homeland and among the diaspora, to draw a policy of confrontation. 

– Resisting to the division of the Palestinian party concerning the Oslo commitments based on the Decisions of the General People’s Congress. 

The Palestinian CP ended the statement with the slogans “Long live Jerusalem, the eternal capital of an independent Palestinian state”, “Freedom to the prisoners of the Palestinian Communist Party”. 

* * *

Palestinian Peoples’ Party (PPP) 

In a press statement, the PPP said that the implementation of the US administration’s decision would have serious repercussion on the security and stability of the region, cutting away the chances of “political settlement” of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The decision was assessed as a blatant attack on the Palestinian people in their struggle for a independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem being its capital. The PPP underlined that the shrewd policy pursued by the US will lead to further ignition of chaos in the Middle East, especially in light of its efforts to impose “solutions” that do not meet the minimum rights of the Palestinian people.

The PPP called not to succumb to Trump’s blackmail policy and his administrations efforts to force the Palestinian leadership to deal with his vision of reviving the “peace process”. Pointing out to Israel’s projects to undermine the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to an independent state on the occupied territories since 1967, Jerusalem being its capital, the PPP stated the need for the US administration to play a positive role.

In order to resist US efforts to diminish the rights of the Palestinian people stipulated in all charters and resolutions of international legitimacy, the PPP called to accelarate the process of ending the division among Palestinian political actors, restoring a comprehensive national unity and adopting a strategy based on further escalation of the struggle. According the statement of the PPP, in the forefront, the popular resistance should be based on the international recognition of the State of Palestine in 2012 with Jerusalem as its capital.

Source: international communist press & maki.org.il.

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Palestinian hunger-strikers’ medical condition is deteriorating after 40 days

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/05/palestinian-hunger-strikers-medical.html

Source: Communist Party of Israel. 

The medical condition of dozens of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners is deteriorating and many more prisoners have been hospitalized over the past four days, representatives of the strikers have announced. 

Some 40 prisoners have been moved from the Ohalei Kedar Prison to hospitals around the country, and 20 have been taken from Hadarim Prison to Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Administration statement.

 

Lawyers who met with some of the prisoners have said that the information accumulating from the prisons is very worrisome and indicates particular severe detention conditions. In addition to prisoner transfers being made under difficult circumstances, the Palestinian Prisoners Club quoted prisoner Mohammed Alul, who has been participating in the hunger strike since its beginning (40 days), having said that the prisoners were being held in small rooms with filthy, bug infested sheets and are not supplied with changes of clothing.

Attorney Hanan Alhatib said the Israel Prison Service is not supplying information about the condition of individual prisoners and that ambulances are now stationed regularly at the prisons to transport prisoners to hospital or to a prison clinic.

Meanwhile, Hadash MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint List) and the Adalah Center for Arab Minority Rights petitioned the Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 24, against a decision by the Knesset House Committee, along with orders from the Prison Service Commission, forbidding MKs from visiting security prisoners. The petitioners demanded that the prison service allow Jabareen to immediately visit Marwan Barghouti, one of the leaders of the hunger strikers. Attorney Muna Haddad of Adalah argued that the visits were crucial and that blocking them frustrates proper parliamentary oversight of the prisoners’ detention conditions, which, she noted, is even more important during a hunger strike.

“The reports and complaints being received of violations of the prisoners’ rights at this time require parliamentary investigation. The refusal to enable a meeting with Barghouti, with no explanation and in violation of the law, constitutes a serious breach of an MK’s right to travel freely throughout the country and to operate unhindered and independently in the course of performing his or her duties,” she said.

“We are receiving reports of serious violations of the hunger-striking prisoners’ rights, and it is my right and my duty to investigate these matters as part of my work as an MK,” said Jabareen. “It is my role as an elected official to monitor the Israel Prison Service’s conduct and it is inconceivable that I am forbidden to visit prisoners.”

* * * 

A man gestures in front of a poster bearing the portrait of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.

Over a thousand Palestinian prisoners and detainees launched a hunger strike on 17 April. They have presented a series of legitimate demands relating to the inhumane conditions in which they are held, including draconian restrictions on family visits; an absolute prohibition against “security” prisoners using the telephone; denial of access to medical and educational services at a due standard; incarceration in isolation (which is considered torture); improper use of administration detention, i.e. detention without trial. According to figures provided by the Israel Prison Service, Israel was holding 486 Palestinians in administrative detention as of 30 April 2017.

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

Sunday, January 22, 2017

CP of Israel & Hadash: Take action, stop the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/01/cp-of-israel-hadash-clear-and.html

Communist Party of Israel & Hadash: Umm Al-Hiran Won’t Stand Alone! 

 

The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) have issued a statement in which they assure that the Arab-Bedouin village of Umm Al-Hiran in the Negev will not stand alone in its struggle to resist being uprooted by the far right Israeli government.

In their statement, the CPI and Hadash declare: “The aggressive violence of the Police on early Wednesday morning [January 18] attests to the criminal intent which resulted in the shooting death of Yacoub Mousa Abu al-Qee’an, a resident of Umm Al-Hiran, as well as injuries to tens of others, including Member of the Knesset Ayman Odeh who was scathed in the head by a ‘sponge bullet.’ The CPI and Hadash call upon their cadres to launch a series of militant actions to protest these criminal actions, while working in conjunction with all patriotic political and popular movements to broaden the struggle.”

The CPI and Hadash contend that “a clear and unequivocal message must be sent to Netanyahu and his ruling gang, that these plans will not pass – they will fail to isolate the Palestinian citizens of Israel in today’s new international environment with the entrance into the White House of Donald Trump, who is promising Israel and the Occupation Industry more support and funding. For years we have known how to stand strong against all policies aimed at wiping out our existence, and have been heroic in our resistance, perseverance, and steadfastness; in this sense, there will be no backtracking. The Negev/Naqab has been targeted for years, and it is obvious that under this government the uprooting of the unrecognized villages and the house demolitions of “unauthorized building” (as the state calls it) will become more brutal and vicious – and today Umm Al-Hiran is undergoing a second Nakba after its displacement in 1956 to its current location. What unmistakably evinces the perpetual discrimination by the state of Israel against its Arab-Palestinian citizens is that the openly declared purpose of demolishing Umm Al-Hiran is to establish a new Jewish town to be called ‘Hiran’ on its very ruins.”The CPI and Hadash maintain that “the crime responsible for the dangerous and brutal bloodshed in Umm Al-Hiram reveals the true face of the current government. We call upon all democratic forces among the Israeli public to understand that this government’s brutality will not stop at the Palestinian Arab’s doorstep, but will eventually threaten anyone who does not agree with its aggressive policies.”

“The CPI and Hadash call upon the international community to continue its efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital but, in the same context, to acknowledge the attack on the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel and to assist in exposing the Israeli government’s racist crimes against its own citizens by dispatching fact finding commissions to Umm Al-Hiran, Qalansawa and all villages facing demolition orders.”

Some facts: In Israel, some 50,000 Arab homes are considered “unauthorized” by the state, which refuses to find a compromise solution that would put an end to the threat of their demolition. In the Negev, there are 38 unrecognized Bedouin villages which remain unconnected to the national water supply and to the electricity network, and which have no schools or even proper roads leading to the villages. Al-Araqeeb, one of these 38 villages, has been demolished 108 times. Eight houses were demolished in Umm Al-Hiran on Wednesday, January 18. The Israeli government wants to demolish Umm Al-Hiran (home to 1,200 Arab residents) in order to build a Jewish town that will have no Arabs, while relocating the people of Umm Al-Hiran to the Arab town of Hoora. Just eight days before the demolitions and bloody violence at Umm Al-Hiran, on Tuesday, January 10, Israeli authorities demolished 11 homes in the Arab city of Qalansawe in the center of the country. The demolitions were conducted only 48 hours after the owners of the homes were first informed of the orders authorizing their destruction, leaving them no time to prevent the action by appealing to the courts.

Posted by In Defense of Communism