Uphold the Right of Return of the Palestinian people!
End the US-Zionist Israeli regime!
Statement of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle Commission 3*
The 70th anniversary of the Nakba was marked with a massacre in Gaza on Monday, May 14, 2018, with the biggest one-day toll of Palestinians killed since the 2014 Israeli invasion of Gaza. Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza, killing at least 60 people and injuring thousands of Palestinians protesting the Monday opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. We condemn the gruesome use of lethal force against the Palestinian protesters that reflected both the continuing Nakba and the violence of the 11-year siege on Gaza; the Israeli military attacks on the popular Great Marches of Return since March 30 have taken over 110 lives.
On the very hour of the opening by the United States government of its embassy in Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children, women and persons with disabilities, were massacred by Israeli snipers, baptizing the US embassy with bloodshed.
We are witnessing the use of unabated brutality and force against civilians to stifle popular protest – an abhorrent violation of human and people’s rights and international humanitarian law. The killing of Palestinian demonstrators is a clear violation of international human rights law, committing what appear to be willful killings constituting war crimes.
Meanwhile, the US blocked the United Nations Security Council’s call for investigation of the deaths in Gaza caused by the Israeli military attack. Washington rushed to justify Israel’s response, accusing the Palestinian movement Hamas of fueling the protests and justifying Israeli brutality, which is funded and supported by billions of dollars in US military aid annually. The US has a long record of using its veto power in the UN Security Council to protect Israel from international scrutiny.
The people of Palestine have been struggling for their liberation and their return to their homeland for 70 years. Imperialist countries especially the US, have refused to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, independence and return. This latest bloodbath in Gaza reflects the continuing nature of the Nakba or the “catastrophe” which began 70 years ago, when is the Palestinian people were forced into a mass exodus from their homes in order for Zionist militiasto establish the exclusionary, racist State of Israel, built on the ruins of their homeland. And while America has supplied Israel with weapons ever since its inception as a state, the US-Zionist Israeli regime, supported by the inaction of the Security Council and the United Nations and the complicity of imperialist nations, has continued to slaughter Palestinians who fight for their human dignity and self-determination. The countless dead and scarred Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank are an undeniable testament to this fact.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a provocation — a sabotage to undermine any effort to achieve real justice and peace in the region. Trump and the US are equally responsible and partners with the Israeli state in the bloodshed since the US decision.
The Security Council’s silence and inaction encourages and protects the Israeli regime’s abuses with impunity which will lead to further deaths and human rights violations. Silence is not acceptable in the face of horrific ordeal of the Palestinian people. The international community, most especially the oppressed and struggling peoples, must act to end the siege on Gaza ,to ensure accountability for those responsible for these atrocious violations of human rights and this ongoing colonial nightmare, and to implement the right of return for Palestinian refugees, denied for 70 years.#
* Note: The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Fundacion Amancio Samuel Villatoro (Guatemala) and Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights-Philippines are among the Steering Committee members of the ILPS Commission 3. Commission 3 tackles human rights in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural fields against state violence, national oppression, class exploitation and oppression, gender oppression, fascism, casteism, racism and religious bigotry; and justice and indemnification for the victims of illegal arrest and detention (especially political prisoners), violations of due process, torture, extra-judicial executions, disappearances, mass displacement, and other blatant forms of human rights violations.
Kilusang Mayo Uno (May One Movement)
Justice and Freedom for the People of Palestine!
Israel, puppet state of the US, butcher of Palestinians!
End Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza!
Filipino workers condemn US and Israel for the massacre of Palestinians fighting for national liberation!
Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement), the Philippines’ anti-imperialist labor center, vehemently condemns the massacre of protesting Palestinians by the US-backed and Zionist-run government of Israel on May 14. Even as we mourn this tragedy, we hail the over 50 killed and 1,300 injured Palestinians as heroes of the tenacious struggle of the Palestinian people for national and social liberation.
This massacre is only the latest and most outrageous addition to the long list of crimes committed by the US and Israel against the Palestinian people, who have every right to hold a peaceful protest against the US embassy’s transfer from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Israeli government has embraced the move as recognition by the US of Israel’s claim to Jerusalem – an outright insult on the Palestinian people’s claim on the same territory.
The protest also marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, which led to the displacement, marginalization, and brutal colonization of the Palestinian people, with the full support of the US and other imperialist powers. The massacre is part of the 70-year history of violence and genocide which is being inflicted by the US and Israel, and which has already killed millions of Palestinians.
We are disgusted by the arrogance of the US in trying to block the United Nations’ investigation into the massacre, which demonstrates their continuing determination to cover up the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli Zionist government using American funds, intelligence, and weapons.
The Israeli occupation of Palestine should end now. US support for the murderous Israeli state should be terminated immediately. We support the Palestinian people’s struggle for national and social liberation. Peace in Palestine and the Middle East could only be attained with the end of US and Israel’s dominance in the region and the respect for the oppressed peoples’ right to self-determination and liberation.
Indeed, the massacre reflects the US policy of supporting state fascism and violence against people struggling for national and social liberation, whether in India, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, or other countries.
The bankruptcy of US foreign policy, especially under the leadership of Donald Trump, is a challenge to the countries of the world to oppose the wars of aggression and plunder being carried out by US imperialism. We call on all movements, political parties, countries and international coalitions in the world to condemn the massacre and the heightening militarism and violence being imposed on the people of Palestine. We stand with all the workers and peoples of the world in intensifying our revolutionary struggles against US imperialism and its allies, and in struggling for a world where peace, justice, sovereignty and democracy reign.
Justice and freedom for the people of Palestine!
US imperialist, No. 1 terrorist!
Israel, puppet state of the US, butcher of Palestinians!
End Israeli occupation of Gaza and Palestine!
#FREEPalestine
PCFS and APC firmly stand with the people of Palestine, strongly support the “Great Return March”
May 14, 2018
The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) firmly stand with the Palestinian people in their global campaign to return to Palestine.
We join the Palestinian people and people of the world in commemorating the 70th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine. Some 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their native towns and villages prior, during and after Israel’s so-called declaration of independence on May 15, 1948. Today, there are over 12 million Palestinians worldwide (of which 5.4 million are refugees), who regard Israel’s independence day as the Nakba – or the “catastrophe”.
Both Coalitions support the struggle of the Palestinian people as a rightful assertion for food sovereignty. The past seven decades saw hunger and poverty plaguing Palestine due to the Israeli government’s economic restrictions on their access, especially to land and food. It is high time to end the Zionist rule that have deprived the Palestinian people their land and life.
Last March 30, the Israeli army opened fired and killed at least 34 unarmed Palestinians and wounded 1,400 others during a peaceful demonstration along the Gaza-Israel border for the launch of the six-week “Great Return March”. Just hours before, a Palestinian farmer was also killed by artillery fire from Israel. We decry these acts as an escalation of the war crimes of Israel as it continues its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.
To date since then, the Zionist attacks have incurred the following casualties among the Palestinian marchers: 49 martyrs including children and two journalists; 9,545 injured including 900 children, 400 women, 200 medical staff, and 110 journalists, 24 of which were amputations.US imperialism’s and Israel’s attempt to wipe out the Palestinian history of Jerusalem is the height of the Zionist policy of occupation, apartheid, and land grabbing in Palestine. The already tense situation further increased when Trump declared Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. We do not recognize Israel’s claim to the entire city.
We also denounce the move to set up/relocate embassies in Jerusalem, led by US President Donald Trump. This is a blatant disregard for the Palestinian peoples’ rights and international humanitarian laws in relation with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
We are with the people of Palestine who resist US imperialism and the ills it brought to their country. We condemn the US counterinsurgency programs and the Israeli government that brand Palestinian activists and freedom fighters as terrorists to legitimize violations of their human rights and of international humanitarian laws.
The Great Return March is a series of protests from March 30 in commemoration of 42nd Land Day, up to May 15 in observance of Nakba. Land Day marks the same day on 1976 when six unarmed Palestinians defending their lands against Israeli takeover were killed. Nakba, meanwhile, commemorates the same day on 1948 when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their lands to Israeli invasion.
We call on all member organizations of the PCFS and APC to support the Great Return March campaign and conduct actions and activities that demonstrate strong solidarity with the Palestinian people. We call on all network organizations of the PCFS and APC to continuously support the Palestinian people in their just struggle against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.
Support Palestinians’ fight for land!
End the Zionist occupation!
Long live International Solidarity!
Youth4FoodSov
May 14, 2018
On the occasion of the 70th Nakba, Youth for Food Sovereignty (YFS) reiterates its support to the Palestinian people fighting for their right to return. We most urgently demand an end to the killing and violence the Israel Defense Force (IDF) has been doing against the Great March protesters for several weeks now. They have killed at least 50 and wounded more than 2,000 now.
YFS strongly condemns the Zionist state of Israel for perpetuating such terrorist acts against the Palestinian people. We condemn the US government and its president Donald Trump for consistently providing material and political support to Zionist Israel, such as the relocation of its embassy in Jerusalem. We likewise condemn the complicity, silence, and disregard of various governments and international bodies towards the IDF’s massacre of the Great March protesters.
We call on everyone who values peace, justice, and democracy to join in demanding an end to the killing of the Great March protesters, and ultimately the attainment of the Palestinian people’s right to return.
International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS)
Asia Pacific Chapter
15 May 2018
US and Israel: No. 1 Terrorists!
We in the ILPS Asia Pacific Chapter denounce in the strongest possible terms the U.S. and Israel for the bloody massacre of at least 58 Palestinians protesting the U.S. Embassy transfer to Jerusalem. Over the past six weeks, over 40 Palestinians have already been killed and thousands wounded in a vain attempt to suppress the Palestinian Great Return March. No amount of bullets and live fire can stop them.
History will not forget this barbaric act. The U.S. and Israel will pay for their crimes against Palestinians, Arab peoples and humanity. The unjust war that the U.S. and Israel are waging in West Asia and the rest of the world shall be met with stronger, wider, and more resolute resistance.
We call on all ILPS affiliates for protest actions across the globe in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation against U.S. and Israel occupation and aggression.
Blood is in the hands of Trump and Netanyahu. They are the real terrorists. They deserve the condemnation of the world’s peoples. #
ILPS CONDEMNS CANADA’S ONGOING COMPLICITY IN THE EXPULSION OF PALESTINIANS
May 15, 2018
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) in Canada condemns in the strongest terms possible the Trudeau government’s ongoing support for US-Zionist imperialism in Palestine on this the 70th Anniversary of the Nakba.
Nakba Day or “Day of the Catastrophe” is commemorated every May 15 to remember the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians from their lands and villages and to celebrate the resiliency and resistance of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants who continue to struggle for their right to return to their homeland.
For the past seven decades the Zionist state of Israel has continued a policy of ethnically cleansing the indigenous Palestinian population from their homeland while simultaneously cultivating the myth of a “democratic beachhead’ in the Middle East.
Since the foundation of Israel, successive Canadian governments have been complicit in the theft of Palestinian land, the implementation of Israeli Apartheid and the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people in the Middle East.
Canadian diplomats Lester Pearson and Supreme Court Justice Ivan Rand were architects of the UN Plan to Partition Palestine. Canada has provided support and charitable status to the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a key institution in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian lands. Canada has supported the Zionist State diplomatically – it was the first country after Israel to impose sanctions against the Palestinian Authority in 2006 in an attempt to sow division among the Palestinian political factions.
Canada has quietly supported the building of the Wall that divides Palestinian communities and lands and further encourages settlement. While Israel has continued to build illegal settlements furthering the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Canada has actively tried to prevent the sanction of these activities. In 2009 Canada was to sole country to oppose UN Human Rights Council actions against continued settlement activity and the violation of Palestinian rights.
In 2006, when Israel put the entire Gaza strip on a “diet” that restricted the daily caloric intake of food supplies entering the West Bank to starvation levels, Canada said it was a “measured response”. And while Israeli occupation forces this year have murdered 49 unarmed protesters, including 6 journalists, during the Gaza March of Return, Canada has said nothing about these crimes against humanity.
Whenever Palestinians stand up and oppose the occupation, the ethnic cleansing and the collective punishment, Canada has joined with the US to provide a pass on the most barbaric acts and gross human rights violations. Critiques of the Israeli Apartheid regime are now routinely labeled anti-Semitic, Israel’s justification for any sins.
Nonetheless, support for Palestine and Palestinian human rights is growing in Canada. A growing number of people are joining the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, despite efforts by various levels of the Canadian State to repress, condemn and de-legitimize the movement.
It is Israel itself that has become illegitimate in the eyes of the people of the world, as the courageous resistance and struggles of the Palestinian people has exposed it as nothing but a murderous tool of imperialism.
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) expresses its solidarity and support with the peoples of Palestine. We stand with Palestinian refugees and their descendants struggling for their right of return. We stand with Palestinian prisoners who continue to organize and speak out even from the depths of the occupation dungeons. We stand for the liberation of Palestine!
Oppose US-Zionist Imperialism!
Oppose Canada’s shameful support of Israel!
No to Settler Colonialism in Palestine!
Withdraw charitable status from the land-stealing Jewish National Fund!
Free all Palestinian political prisoners!
Support the Right of Return for all Palestinian Refugees!
From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!
Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association 