By the International Committee of Peace, Justice and Dignity Amongst Peoples
Palestine and Arab Jerusalem Are Not Alone! We Are All Palestinians!
The images and photographs of dead Palestinian children, the desecration of Palestinian holy sites such as the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure shake the world once again.
The escalation of violence during the holy month of Ramadan, when Palestinians were exercising their religious rights of prayer, once again highlights the provocations of Israel and the previous US administration that in 2017 declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel and it shows that the “Deal of the Century” is actually the Shame of the Century. Their real purpose is the extermination of the Palestinian people who have resisted the Israeli occupation for 73 years.
The Gaza Strip has become the largest open-air prison in the world due to the Israeli blockade. Its two million inhabitants are prevented from receiving food, fuel and, in the midst of a pandemic, medical supplies. On Tuesday 11th May, the town of Beit Hanun in Gaza was attacked by a night aerial bombardment from the Netanyahu regime that caused several deaths and destroyed homes, a 13-story tower block and civilian buildings.
Al-Quds or Jerusalem, historically recognized as the Holy Land or Holy City, is Palestinian and it is the place where the most revered religious sentiments of Christians, Muslims and Jews have been expressed. Since the occupation, Palestinians and Arabs have suffered constant abuse, humiliation and the violation of their rights. Israel imposes grotesque restrictions to prevent access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is considered one of the three holy places of Islam.
Indignation erupted last Monday at the news of the expulsion of Palestinian residents from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in a measure favouring the colonial settlers. The criminal actions of the army, police and paramilitary settler groups against the civilian population, expelling Palestinian families from their homes and demolishing those homes, and against the Palestinians who were praying on their sacred sites on the esplanade of the Al Aqsa Mosque, constitute acts of ethnic cleansing and war crimes.
The Palestinian Resistance warned of Israel’s aggression against the civilian population. But Israel continued its escalation of hostilities. Faced with the increase in Zionist aggression, the heroic Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem took to the streets in popular uprising, in the Intifada, defending their properties and rights, in defence of Jerusalem as the Capital of the Palestinian State. Palestinian deaths and injuries resulted from this unequal confrontation, but the struggle and resistance in the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem continues.
This Intifada in Jerusalem has united all the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and in the Palestinian territories within Israel, and the direct support for the resistance emerged from Gaza. The Palestinian Resistance Brigades launched rockets and missiles at Israeli military installations in response to the crimes of the Israeli army. Israel has launched more than 1,500 rounds of bombing in Gaza with state-of-the-art weapons. So far, 83 Palestinians have died due to the massive and indiscriminate bombardment that has left great destruction. The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that as of 13th among the dozens of deaths were 17 children and 7 women, and 487 casualties wounded in varying degrees of severity.
Israel intentionally targets civilians, the aggression thus far has also caused great material losses and damage to the infrastructure, homes and farms of Palestinian citizens, according to information reported by agencies in Gaza:
• The bombing of more than 500 residential towers of homes and offices, resulting in either total or partial demolitions; 1000 houses seriously damaged by the continuous bombing.
• 2 residential towers were completely bombed and demolished, and 12 media outlets were damaged, as well as other civil institutions, associations and offices.
• The bombing of 52 government headquarters, which ranged from police headquarters, to security and social facilities
• Seven schools, several Primary Health Care clinics and the Water Desalination Plant in northern Gaza were seriously damaged by heavy shelling in their vicinity.
• The bombardment of farms, agricultural land, wells and irrigation networks, with losses of millions of dollars.
• The bombing of streets and infrastructure, networks and transformers necessary for electricity, water and sewerage.
• More than 50 cars and means of public transport were totally or partially damaged.
• In addition to the continued closure of the occupation’s commercial crossings in the Gaza Strip, there is the ongoing prohibition of Palestinian fishermen from going out to sea to fish.
• The International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity Amongst Peoples condemns with all its might the bombings and war crimes of Israel and denounces the use of internationally prohibited weapons against the Palestinian population of Gaza, the occupation of Jerusalem, the repression and desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We denounce the role of US imperialism, Israel’s main partner, which makes it an accomplice of the occupation.
We call for urgent international solidarity with the Palestinian people, the release of the thousands of political prisoners, and we demand an end to the war and occupation.
Enough of 73 years of the suffering of Al Nakba, of the occupation, dispossession and tragedy of Palestine. Israel must immediately withdraw from the occupied territories and return to the 1967 borders.
We reiterate our support for the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation and to defend themselves. We affirm the Palestinian right to struggle for the liberation of their homeland and to the create an independent and sovereign State of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital. The right of return of Palestinian refugees to their lands and homes is also an inalienable human right.
Long live free Palestine!
Palestine will win!
SOURCE: CUBA EN RESUMEN, translated by Aaron Kelly
