The whole world knows that Israel has occupied Palestinian territory for the last 40 years, since the Arab–Israeli war of 1967. Since that time, Israel has held onto these territories, despite numerous UN resolutions on the matter. Israel has been supported by the US, its principal backer, along with Europe. It took heroic efforts on the part of the Palestinian people through Hamas to compel Israel to cede control and evacuate the Gaza strip, while the West Bank remains occupied. Unable to countenance its humiliation at having to evacuate Gaza, Israel nonetheless decided to maintain its stranglehold by means of an inhuman blockade that goes against international law.

The truce signed last June between Israel and Hamas involved the lifting of the blockade. Hardly had the ink dried on the paper when Israel demonstrated no intention to respect the accord, violating it systematically – a fact recognised even by the UN agencies that continue to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees. These regular breaches understandably led Hamas to spurn efforts at renewing the accord. But given that the Western media obfuscates Israel’s lies and bad faith, the impression created is that it was the intransigence of Hamas that led to the current crisis.

FROM SABRA AND SHATILA TO GAZA

The truth is that the current atrocities are a mere continuation of a series of massacres and heinous crimes that the Zionist state has perpetrated since occupying Palestine in 1948. The world has not forgotten the Sabra and Shatila massacres of 1982, after the invasion of Lebanon, the headquarters of the late Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The massacres committed by the Lebanese Phalangists were ordered and planned by the war criminal former defence minister Ariel Sharon.

The world also remembers the Israeli army’s assault on Jenin, a martyred city that was laid waste and tens of people massacred, just as is happening today. The world still remembers the children gunned down on their way to school less than a year ago. We still remember the siege on Arafat’s PLO headquarters that he only left to die in Paris. We know the Zionist refrain that they targeted ‘enemy combatants’, whereas the majority of the casualties were civilians, mostly women and children. If Israel’s murderous antics are not stopped, the planned ground offensive will surely result in unprecedented carnage.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE US AND EUROPE

All of these actions have been carried out with the tacit approval of the US and the European Union. The Zionist state continues to massacre Palestinians and turn its nose up at international opinion with impunity, thanks to the unflinching support of these countries. The entire world has witnessed the support that these countries continue to give Israel in the current conflict. Everyone knows that the US is Israel’s unconditional supporter; bolstering it politically, economically, financially, militarily, as well as diplomatically. In the face of the daily massacres that outraged the world, we heard Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice state that Hamas was ‘at fault’, thus indicating that the Israeli onslaught was planned and coordinated with the help of the US government.

It is therefore clear that the Israel’s state-sponsored terror campaign is a function of Western global imperialism aimed at crushing the resistance of the Palestinian people, and hence establishing a ‘peace’ that suits Israel. The hypocrisy of the Bush administration and the European Union’s efforts at seeking a lasting peace does not fool anyone. We can still recall the plight of the Iraqi people at the hands of George W. Bush, according to whom there would be peace in the Middle East before he left the White House. We know what the situation is at present.

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE HEROIC RESISTANCE OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

Today, more than ever before, all who oppose oppression and injustice must reaffirm their support for the martyred Palestinian people. Silence in the face of the barbarism and cruelty of Israel makes us accessories to the monstrous crimes – and even the genocide – that it continues to perpetrate, in defiance of international law and inspite of repeated calls to cease the bombings and lift the blockade of Gaza. These organisations must make their voices heard, and pressure Israel and its supporters to change its barbaric policies towards a people who have suffered so much and are doing nothing more than asserting their legitimate right to exist within recognised boundaries.

Finally, we at the African Forum for Alternatives demand:
- An immediate cessation of the attacks and massacres perpetrated by Israel
- An immediate and unconditional lifting of the blockade imposed on Gaza
- The indictment of the Zionist leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity
- An end to all aggression by Israel against the Palestinian people
- An end to Israeli occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state that includes all territories claimed by the people, with Jerusalem as its capital.

We are all Palestinian! Long live a Palestine state free from Zionist occupation!

* Demba Moussa Dembélé is the director of the African Forum for Alternatives.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/