Solidarity with the Palestinian people!
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
opinion/analysis 
Sunday January 11, 2009 15:43
by pat c - Hands off the People of Iran
No to war in Gaza and the Middle East!
Solidarity with the Palestinian people! No to war in Gaza and the Middle East!
Hands off the People of Iran unreservedly condemns the barbaric onslaught by Israel on Palestinians and the siege of Gaza. We call on supporters of our campaign to join the demonstrations taking place all over the country. The scale of terror being inflicted shows that the Israeli state is hell-bent on ethnic cleansing the Palestinian people.
George Bush obviously supports the Israeli atrocities. Obama is keeping his mouth shut. But it is clear what side he is on. He supported the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 2006 and has recently endorsed Israel taking ‘firm’ action against Hamas.
But it was actually Israel that breached the ceasefire, not Hamas. They staged an incursion into Gaza on 5 November during the US election. Hamas responded with rockets and Israel was then able to use that as an excuse to collectively punish the Palestinian people once again. Israel, with US support, is twisting reality to justify horrendous acts against civilians.
We call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the siege of Gaza. But Hamas is not an answer. It is the politics of despair. Instead we need a united working class solution in Palestine and throughout the Middle East.Israel would welcome the chance to widen hostilities to include bombardment of Iran.
An attack on Iran is definitely on their agenda – one that would also receive the support of the US under both Bush and Obama. In the face of this we need to increase our efforts to build solidarity and unity against imperialism and its allies. But our solidarity is with the people, not the Iranian state or any other middle-east regime. Change must come from below, from progressive and working class forces. Imperialism only brings bloodshed and depravity.
We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinian people and extend our solidarity to them.
Our campaign demands are:
No to imperialist war! For the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of US/UK troops from Iraq and the entire Gulf region!
No to any imperialist intervention. The immediate and unconditional end to sanctions on Iran.!
No to the theocratic regime!
Opposition to Israeli expansionism and aggression!
Support to all working class and progressive struggles in Iran against poverty and repression!
Support for socialism, democracy and workers' control in Iran!
For a nuclear-free Middle East as a step towards a nuclear-free world!
Contact HOPI at:
Anne@hopoi.info
http://www.hopi-ireland.org/
http://www.hopoi.org
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2No to Israel’s barbaric war!
Hands Off the People of Iran condemns unreservedly the massacre of Palestinians by Israeli military forces. Air raids on Gaza have killed hundreds and land invasion with tanks and heavy weapons has created hell for the inhabitants of Gaza. No words can express our horror at the barbaric actions of the utterly unscrupulous set of leaders in Israel using their soldiers to commit war crimes.
Clearly this operation is in line with US imperialist strategy in the region, part of the so-called ‘war on terror’. This is confirmed by the refusal of the current President and President elect, Obama , to condemn Israel or to support calls for a ceasefire. The biased reporting of these events by sections of the Western media has given the impression that this is a war against Hamas and Islamic fundamentalism. The reality is that the victims of the onslaught are defenceless Palestinians who in a desperate search for any viable opposition to Israeli colonialism voted for Hamas in 2006.
HOPI does not support Hamas and believes it does not offer a real alternative to imperialism. Its politics will lead to further disasters. However, we reject the lies about Hamas told by Israeli military spokespersons to justify their barbaric war. Very few reporters have reminded their audience that it was Israeli forces that broke a four-month long ceasefire on November 4. Few have mentioned the fact that in the late 1980s, it was Israel that supported Hamas in order to weaken secular, leftist Palestinian groups. Few have reminded their audience that Israel actually encouraged the corrupt and pliant Fatah leadership to overthrow their religious political rivals and recapture power - a poisonous policy of divide and rule. Aggressive American neoconservatives participated in the sinister plot to instigate a Palestinian civil war. (Avi Shlaim – Guardian 7/01/09) The reactionary Arab regimes in the region have once again proved they have no intention of supporting the Palestinians beyond some tired rhetoric. Egypt has actually aided the Israeli blockade, closing the Gaza frontier both to humanitarian aid and to volunteers attempting to bring in medical aid. As far as the Iranian government is concerned, after all the slogans and propaganda in defence of ‘Palestine’, its currents silence about Israeli atrocities speaks volumes. A h m a d i n e j a d ’ s posturing, whether on nuclear weapons or by hosting neo-Nazis, has only helped Israeli propaganda and the warmongers in Washington. Yet even in the field of diplomatic efforts, Iran’s response is muted. At a time when Palestinians need regional help, the regime puts its own interests first and keeps its head down. No one should put any trust in the Islamic regime in Tehran. It has actually helped the enemy sow sectarian division among the Palestinians in Lebanon and Iraq. Iranian-backed militias have ethnically cleansed thousands of Palestinian refugees from Iraq, under the eyes of the occupation regime.
The Iranian rulers have traded oil and arms with Israel, and if they use the Palestinian people to serve their interests today, it would be as pawns, to be sacrificed tomorrow.
However the people of Iran have a right and duty to aid the Palestinian people in any way they can. Not because of a shared religion. Instead, it is part and parcel of working class international solidarity and it has its roots in the history of radical leftist forces in the region.
Obama's white house chief of staff is to be Rahm Emanuel,link below. As our american cousins say, go figure.
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