By deliberation of the UN General Assembly, today, November 29, marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
The Palestinian people have been fighting for decades to end the Israeli occupation and its crimes, to finally fulfil the international promises to create a sovereign and independent state in the territories occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as the capital and ensuring the right of return for the refugees. However, the reality has been the systematic disregard for the rights of the Palestinian people, the permanent violation by Israel of all resolutions and agreements. It is urgent and necessary to put an end to this unacceptable situation.
Israel is responsible for an endless succession of violations of International Law and UN resolutions. It is the continuation of the occupation. It is the constant attacks on the West Bank and the bombings on the besieged Gaza Strip – like those that last May caused around 250 deaths, including 65 children, and 2,000 wounded. It is the measures that aim to derail the creation of a Palestinian State in accordance with UN resolutions, through the unstoppable construction of illegal settlements in the occupied territories or the Apartheid Wall. It is the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands, seeking to change the demographic composition of the State of Israel, which explicitly and increasingly denies fundamental rights to secular populations. It is the criminal blockade of Gaza and the dramatic living conditions of the Palestinian population. It is the thousands of political prisoners, subjected to torture and violations of their rights. It is the systematic oppression and persecution of an entire people.
The impunity for Israel's crimes is only possible because it counts on the complicity of the main imperialist powers, especially the USA, which use Zionism as an instrument of their strategy of aggression in the Middle East.
In this context, it is particularly shocking and unacceptable that the Portuguese government has not proceeded to recognise the State of Palestine - in accordance with the constitutional precepts in matters of international policy and with the recommendation expressed by the Assembly of the Republic in this regard - and that it has not expressed a condemnation of the criminal Israeli bombings of the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip in May of this year. Revealing an alignment with the US, EU and NATO policies, the PS government assumes serious responsibilities in preventing a political solution to the enormous problems in the Middle East, in the rapid deterioration of the situation in this region and at the international level, in the growing threats to peace.
On this International Day of Solidarity, the PCP reiterates its everlasting solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people for their inalienable rights, and calls for the strengthening of the Portuguese people's solidarity with the Palestinian national cause. In particular, the PCP calls for participation in the solidarity actions taking place today, November 29, namely the concentrations of "Solidarity with Palestine and for the end of the Israeli occupation and crimes", promoted by the CPPC, MPPM, CGTP -IN and other organisations, which take place in Lisbon, at 6 pm, at Largo Camões, and in Porto, at 5 pm, at Praceta da Palestina.
Palestine will win!
