[A-List] Ottawa Must Condemn Israeli Aggression - CP of Canada

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Ottawa Must Condemn Israeli Aggression

The Communist Party of Canada has condemned Israel’s “wanton aggression”
in Gaza and Lebanon, and is demanding that the Harper federal government
join the vast majority of the international community in criticizing
Israel’s escalating military actions.

“The re-occupation of Gaza; the menacing intrusion into Jordanian
airspace; and now the full-scale attack by air, sea and land on Lebanon:
all of these Israeli actions over the past two weeks are absolutely
unjustified under international law. No state has the right to use force
against another country without the agreement of the UN Security Council.

“The murder of innocent civilians and the wholesale destruction of
bridges, utilities and other infrastructure are not just unwarranted
provocations – this type of collective punishment is a war crime committed
by the State of Israel, the actions of a ‘rogue state’ out of step with
world opinion which favours a just, negotiated peace in the region.”

The Communist Party statement also denounced the Canadian government’s
reaction to the mounting crisis.

“Since Israeli aggression began in late June, Foreign Minister Peter
MacKay has heaped all responsibility for the current crisis onto the
shoulders of the Palestinian resistance, while remaining completely silent
about Israeli attacks. PM Stephen Harper went even further in London
yesterday, calling the Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon ‘a measured
response’.

“Such one-sided apologetics for Israel’s bullying, war-like behaviour is
appalling and wholly irresponsible. At this critical moment when the whole
region is on the razor’s edge of all-out war, Ottawa’s pronouncements are
giving moral encouragement to the Israeli government to continue and even
escalate its military aggression.

“Harper's extreme pro-Israeli position is binding Canada ever more firmly
to the aggressive and dangerous foreign policy of the US Bush
administration. Canadians should be deeply concerned about this
government’s disgraceful unilateral revision of Canada’s foreign policy in
this region.

“Instead, Canada must demand that the Olmert government agree without
delay to an immediate ceasefire to stop the bombing and artillery at once,
and stop the senseless slaughter of civilians and the starvation of
children. The siege of Gaza must be lifted and commercial crossings opened
to allow an uninterrupted supply of food, medicines and fuel to the
Palestinian population of the Gaza strip who are threatened with a
humanitarian disaster.

“The excuse which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is using to justify
this aggression – the capture and detention of some Israeli soldiers by
the Palestinian resistance and Hezbollah fighters – is a feeble and
hypocritical pretext. The ‘retaliation’ has been totally disproportionate
and reveals Israel's well-known penchant for aggression on its
neighbouring countries. Furthermore, Israel’s attempt to paint itself as a
victim which is forced to defend itself is farcical, given that the IDF
routinely detains and tortures Palestinians (including innocent civilians)
in the Occupied Territories, carries out ‘extra-judicial’ assassinations
of activists, and destroys homes, clinics and schools.

“Successive Israeli governments have refused to recognize the national
rights of the Palestinian people to a viable, independent state on the
territories illegally occupied by Israel since 1967. For years, it
humiliated the fledgling government of the Palestinian Authority, keeping
President Yassir Arafat a virtual prisoner in his compound. Now, Israel is
trying to completely strangle the newly elected Hamas government. It has
ruled out any further peace negotiations, and has brazenly declared its
right to unilaterally determine the final borders – an Orwellian
turn-of-phrase meaning the permanent annexation of Palestinian lands into
‘Greater Israel’.

“If history has taught us anything, it is that repression, aggression and
war will never subdue a restless people who have every right to resist
occupation and to demand self-determination. If Israel wants to stop the
Palestinian resistance, it has only to implement countless UN resolutions
demanding that it end – once and for all – its illegal occupation of all
territories, including East Jerusalem, seized in the 1967 war, and
recognize and develop cooperative relations with a truly independent and
sovereign Palestinian state. This is the only just solution that can
guarantee genuine and enduring peace in the region.”

“The Communist Party is working across Canada to mobilize broad, urgent
and powerful opposition to the Harper government's position and to build
solidarity with the Palestinian and other peoples of the Middle East
targeted by the dangerous escalation of aggression by Israel.”

= 30 =

For more information, please contact Miguel Figueroa, Communist Party
leader, at 416-469-2446 or 416-419-5319 (direct line); or email
figueroa at cpc-pcc.ca.

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