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ISRAEL-PALESTINE
Posted: Nov 15, 2009
Solidarity with the Palestinian people
This is the text of a statement issued by the SWP to coincide with the demonstrations organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and its allies last week.
On Friday 6 November 2009, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinians tore down a section of an apartheid wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin.
During a weekly protest against the inhumane barrier, which cuts through a village centre, isolating residents from 60 percent of their farmland, over 300 demonstrators dismantled a section of the wall before Israeli forces opened fire.
The Berlin wall was 96 miles long and 11.8 feet high. The wall being built by Israel is already 400 miles long and 25 feet high.
Obama describes himself as a ‘true friend’ of the Palestinians yet he has not condemned the wall which is in effect imprisoning the Palestinians and cutting villages and farms in half. Israel continues to violate international law with impunity and continues to receive 50% of all US foreign aid. In 2009 it will have received $2.5 billion in military aid, that’s $7 million dollars every day. Meanwhile the people of Gaza are starved of essential resources such as water.
Obama talks about a two state solution. More empty rhetoric.
The experience of the ‘peace process’ since Oslo in 1993 has shown that the two state solution can never be a solution. One reason being the massive imbalance of power between the two sides. Israel is one of the most militarised states in the world and with US political, financial and military support it would always play the role of aggressor and continue to dominate any Palestinian state. Palestinians would be crammed into tiny plots of land with no space for refugees to return to. The last ‘peace process’ came to a halt with the assault on Gaza in January that left 1,387 Palestinians dead.
The only solution is a democratic secular state in which jews, muslims, Christians and others live in equality.
Most of the Arab regimes are also dependent on imperialism for survival. They fear that popular anger over the Palestinians could trigger a wave of rebellions like those that swept away many corrupt regimes in the 1950s and 1960s. The strikes against privatisation and for a minimum wage are feeding into the anger over Palestine.
The mass of people have the power to create a different world, not because they are downtrodden but because they are workers.
It is workers who keep the oil flowing through the pipelines of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, workers who take ships along the Suez Canal, workers who bake bread, drive trains etc.
Only an international movement, linking together workers across the Arab world and beyond, has the strength to defeat imperialism.
Read also these recent articles on Israel-Palestine:
Jan 29, 2010: Can Palestinians and Israelis Live in One State?
Jan 20, 2010: Derry celebrates return of Viva Palestina volunteers
Jan 07, 2010: Viva Palestina brings aid to Gaza
Jan 06, 2010: Update on clashes as Viva Palestina Convoy reaches Gaza border
Jan 05, 2010: Stop Press: Egyptian government halt and attack aid convoy for Gaza
Jan 04, 2010: Targeting human rights defenders
Jan 03, 2010: Gaza Freedom Marchers issue the "Cairo Declaration" to end Israeli Apartheid
Jan 02, 2010: Large Gaza vigils held in Dublin and around the country
Dec 19, 2009: IPSC Protest Bogus Israeli Embassy Conference on Migrant Rights
Dec 04, 2009: IPSC Report on the Week of Solidarity Against the Apartheid Walls in Palestine and the Siege of Gaza
Nov 15, 2009: Hundreds Attend Rally Against Israeli Apartheid in Palestine
Nov 15, 2009: Solidarity with the Palestinian people
Nov 12, 2009: Rally for Palestinian Rights in Dublin on Saturday 14th November
Oct 25, 2009: UN Human Rights Council condemns Israel's Gaza assault
Oct 12, 2009: CRH: Building for the future?
Oct 12, 2009: Department of Defence's shameful deal with Separation Wall supplier
Sep 10, 2009: Israel: Water as a tool of oppression
Aug 19, 2009: Will Obama push Israel to make peace with Palestine?
Jul 03, 2009: Irish citizens on humanitarian mission still in Israeli custody
Jun 30, 2009: Israeli Navy Threatens "Spirit Of Humanity" In International Waters
Jun 24, 2009: No to Eircom deal with Israeli company Amdocs
May 28, 2009: Cork - Demo and march in support of Boycott Israel campaign (Sat 30th May)
Feb 15, 2009: Boycott Apartheid Israel
