CPUSA condemns Israeli assault on Gaza

The following statement was released by the national board of the Communist Party USA on July 5.

The Communist Party USA strongly condemns the latest acts of aggression by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people. In the past days, the Israeli Army has launched a series of attacks on civilian infrastructure, including bridges, water supply facilities and Gaza’s only power station. In the face of the attacks, coupled with the ongoing withholding of humanitarian aid, Palestine faces a humanitarian crisis.

Then Israel abducted leading members of Hamas, including nine cabinet members, 20 members of the Palestinian Parliament, and dozens of others. Israeli planes bombarded the Palestinian Ministry of the Interior, setting it aflame and destroyed the offices of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh with missiles. These actions are a total denial of the democratic will of the Palestinian people and a violation of UN decisions and international law.

Israeli tanks are awaiting a full-scale invasion of Gaza.

Israel’s Olmert government justifies these aggressive and illegal actions as an attempt to recover an Israeli Defense Force soldier who was abducted by a small Palestinian militant group earlier last week. Apparently waiting for an excuse to try and overthrow the Hamas government, Israel’s aggressive acts have moved events further from a peaceful settlement.

While Egypt and several European countries attempted to intervene diplomatically, Israeli jets flew into Syrian air space on June 29, flying low over the residence of President Bashar al-Assad while he was in the building. Syrian ground forces fired at the aircraft. Israel’s total disregard for international law and national sovereignty is a threat to the peace and stability of the whole region.

This lawless aggression would not be possible without the support of the Bush administration and continued U.S. military aid to Israel.

The past week’s escalation by Israel follows a bloody month of attacks into Gaza including several extrajudicial assassinations of Palestinians and missile attacks that killed over 20 civilians.

The Israeli government controls the conditions of life in the West Bank and Gaza and continually limits the ability of the legitimately elected Palestinian government to function. It seeks to impose its own terms unilaterally and avoids negotiations. There can be no solution of peace and security on such a basis.

The only real solution to the cycle of violence and humanitarian crisis is for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces back to the 1967 borders, the full independence and sovereignty of Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem, and the resolution of the refugee problem according to the relevant UN resolutions. Only the mutual recognition of Israel and Palestine as two independent, equal states can end the catastrophe.

The latest round of provocations is clearly aimed at derailing the peace process as forces in Palestine draw closer to agreement on recognition of Israel within the pre-1967 borders. Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement on June 27 that, while flawed, moves in this direction.

We call on all parties to cease escalations and move to a negotiated settlement of the current crisis.

We call on peace-loving people in the U.S. to join this week’s protests against Israeli aggression and against U.S. aid and corporate support for the continued occupation of the West bank and Gaza.

We, with other groups, call on every person of conscience to call their representatives in Congress and the White House to exert pressure on Israel to end the invasion of Gaza.

We also call for withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, whose presence is escalating tensions in the whole Middle East and emboldening the Israeli government.

We condemn all terrorist acts, all attacks on civilians, Palestinian or Israeli.

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