The Communist parties of Israel and Jordan and the Palestinian People’s Party met March 13 in Amman, Jordan, to discuss a coordinated approach to U.S. imperialism and its strategy of “war, occupation, the theft of national resources, privatization and the enslavement of the people as a cheap work force for the multinational corporations.”
In a joint statement, “For Cooperation among the Forces for Peace in the Middle East,” the parties reaffirmed their belief that “the struggle for democracy is necessary and positive.” However, they stressed, “the success of this struggle for democracy cannot be reconciled with occupation and cannot be forced upon another nation.”
As parties of social change, the three said they have an obligation to expose the dangers and the hypocrisy of the policies of the Bush administration. “The American government presents itself as the bearer of democracy and human rights in an attempt to play on the feelings of the peoples [of the Middle East] and to mask the neoconservative policies of privatization of the public work sector, elimination of workers’ rights [and] the reduction of social safety nets.”
On the policies of the Sharon government in Israel, the parties believe that Sharon’s diplomatic and military plans, which enjoy the full support of the Bush administration, will not lead to peace. Those plans “are based on using the announced evacuation of the settlements from Gaza as a cover for the massive expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, the continuation of the construction of the barrier wall, and the furthering of a policy of oppression, destruction and killing.” The main thrust of Sharon’s policy is not evacuation, they said, but rather the creation of conditions to prevent the formation of an independent Palestinian state.
“We again emphasize our support for a comprehensive and just peace, the center of which is an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the solution of the refugee problem in accordance with the UN resolutions.”
Finally, in an appeal to others in the region, “we three parties turn to all of the ‘sane’ forces in our countries, to the forces of democracy who value civil rights and oppose imperialism and the globalization of the multinational corporations: Let’s join forces in the struggle for peace, democracy and social justice.”
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