Press Release , 15 April 2008
May 14th marks the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, during which over 530 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated and destroyed and 750,000 men, women, and children driven from their land. This programme of ethnic cleansing will also be marked as the anniversary of the formation of the apartheid state of Israel.
We, members of The European Campaign To End The Siege Of Gaza, on the anniversary of the Nakba, pledge our commitment to the Palestinian struggle for self determination, human rights, and restitution for the 60 years of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, murder, and theft of land and resources which they have suffered unabated at the hands of this Zionist state. This unremitting cruelty has reached a new stage with the ongoing siege of 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza, designed to starve them into submission and slavery. It is a siege actively supported by our own governments, covering them in shame.
Ours is a world currently defined by a struggle between the forces of barbarism and those resisting this barbarism in the name of human progress. This barbarism emanates from Washington DC and involves a US ruling elite which, along with its allies - namely the EU and Israel - is intent on turning our world into a free market desert.
Standing in the way of this barbarism is the Arab Resistance in Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, along with the resistance being waged in Afghanistan and by the people of Iran. Not only is their resistance to what is a brutal neoliberal and imperialist onslaught being waged on behalf of themselves, it is being waged on behalf of all oppressed peoples throughout the so-called developing and developed world. The Palestinians, with their heroic stand against a determined attempt to remove them from their land and thereafter murder their history and culture, have for many years stood alone in this struggle.
Not anymore.
In the best tradition of internationalism, people of conscience and consciousness throughout the world have awoken to the plight of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. This awakening has evolved into the first stages of an international campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against the apartheid state of Israel. We support this campaign, understanding as we do that it is the most effective way of providing active solidarity with the Palestinian people and their ongoing resistance to Israeli terror.
As a further mark of solidarity, The European Campaign To End The Siege Of Gaza calls for demonstrations and events to be organised in every town and city throughout Europe and internationally to mark the Nakba and the birth of the Palestinian resistance.
In 1969 the then Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, said 'there were no Palestinians'. Presented as a statement of historical fact, it was instead a statement of intent. But Golda Meir has been proved wrong, just as every Israeli prime minister since has been proved wrong. For the desperate and courageous struggle of this beleaguered people has written a new page in a long history of resistance to oppression and slavery.
In the year 2008, on the 60th anniversary of Nakba, not only are there Palestinians. In the year 2008 we are all Palestinians.
Signatories:
- Alternative Information Center, Israel/Palestine, www.alternativenews.org
-Anti-imperialist Camp, Europe, http://www.antiimperialista.org/
-"Awami Bharat", Mumbai, India, http://awamibharat.blogspot.com/
-Freedom Socialist Party International Executive Committee
-Friends of Al Aqsa, Britain, http://www.aqsa.org.uk/
-Gaza vivrà (Gaza must live), Italy, www.gazavive.com
-Indian Social Movement, India
-International Solidarity Movement ISM - France, www.ism-france.org
-"Intifada" Solidarity Association to the Palestinian People, Greece, www.intifada.gr
-Jordanian socialist thought forum - Jordan
-MA.D.I.S.A (Center for Alternative Information and Study of the Middle East), Greece
-MEWANDO Network (Middle East without war and oppressions), Basque country-Spain, www.mewando.org
-Phule-Ambedkari Vichar Manch, Mumbai, India
-Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), Scotland, www.scottishpsc.org.uk
-Sendika, Labor Net, Turkey, www.sendika.org
-Solidarity Association with the Palestinian People (Filistin Halkiyla Dayanisma Dernegi) Turkey, http://www.filistindayanisma.org
-Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine, Spain, http://www.nodo50.org/causapalestina/
-Tadamon! Montreal, Quebec http://tadamon.resist.ca/index.php
-Vidyarthi Bharti, Mumbai, India
-Yusuf Meherally Yuvak Birdari, Mumbai, India