The PCP strongly condemns Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people, including its stated goal of colonising the Gaza Strip, and calls on the Portuguese Government to take a clear stance of condemnation of this new escalation and to develop effective initiatives aimed at putting an immediate end to the genocide of the Palestinian people.
The genocide that Israel continues to carry out against the Palestinian people is increasing, with the complicity of the major imperialist powers. Several UN agencies and structures confirm the situation of acute hunger in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel's deliberate action to break the will of the Palestinian people, with almost three hundred deaths from malnutrition, about half of whom are children. Since Israel and the US replaced the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and other UN agencies, more than 2000 people have been killed and 15000 wounded during the distribution of scarce food supplies.
It is in this context that Netanyahu's criminal government has set itself the goal of fully occupying and colonising the Gaza Strip, concentrating and expelling its population, while at the same time officially announcing a plan to build Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the aim of which, as Israeli government officials claim, is to “bury” any prospect of creating a Palestinian state.
The impunity with which Israel violates international law and the most basic humanism is only possible because the US and the major powers of NATO and the European Union stand by the Israeli government, offering it weapons, funding and political cover, while at the same time stepping up repression of the solidarity movement with the Palestinian people and with the US imposing sanctions against representatives of the UN and other international organisations. This reality is not changed by political initiatives announced by various countries which, in addition to not questioning their support for Israel, are accompanied by unacceptable demands that disrespect the sovereignty and rights of the Palestinian people.
The PCP stresses that imperialism, particularly US imperialism, is taking action to crush the legitimate resistance of the peoples of the Middle East and materialise their recolonisation. This action reaches brutal levels in the genocide of the Palestinian people, but also affects Lebanon – where the interference of the US and the major European powers seeks to disarm the Lebanese national resistance against Israeli occupation – and translates into renewed threats to attack Iran – following the Israeli-US attacks last June – the continued fragmentation and occupation of Syria – a situation that follows the script already seen in other countries targeted by imperialist interference – or the bombing of Yemen, with the real danger of a major war in the region.
The scale of Israel's crimes can no longer be concealed and reveals the true face of the imperialist powers, of which zionism is an instrument in the Middle East.
It is urgent to put an immediate end to the genocide in Palestine, guarantee access to humanitarian aid, create the State of Palestine and implement the right of return of Palestinian refugees, as determined by UN resolutions.
The PCP calls on the workers and the Portuguese people to redouble their action in solidarity with the Palestinian people and other peoples who legitimately resist the imperialist offensive in the Middle East. It is urgent to stop the barbarity.
