British socialists’ appeal: Stop the massacre in Gaza

Respect

Great Britain

The Israel’s assault on the Gaza strip is an affront to humanity. One of the most densely populated places on earth, blockaded by land, sea and air, is suffering aerial bombardment from Apache assault helicopters and F-16 fighters. Bombs and missiles are raining down on a population, penned in by barbed wire and unable to flee to safety.

Over 300 Palestinians had been killed in the first three days of this latest Israeli slaughter. And as ever with war, along with the bombs and the deaths have come the lies. The Israeli government is keen to claim that it is ’only responding’ to missile strikes launched from within the Gaza strip. Yet this defence of ’only responding’, so eagerly repeated by our own media, is a travesty of the truth – for it turns the laws of cause and effect upon their head. It ignores the history of 60 years of oppression and occupation, of a continuing attempt to wipe the Palestinian nation out of history.

It is that history of oppression – from the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 and the occupations of Gaza and the West Bank in 1967, through to the refusal to recognise the results of democratic Palestinian elections and the continued blockage of Gaza - that has fed the continuing resistance of the Palestinian people.

That resistance is both completely understandable and entirely legitimate. Respect fully and unconditionally supports the cause of Palestinian freedom. We will do everything we can to raise solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza, suffering today under bombardment. And we will continue to work alongside all those who understand that the only way to create a peaceful and secure Middle East is to turn the slogan ’Free Palestine’ into a living reality.

December 29^th, 2008

* Respect – The Unity Coalition is a left wing political party in England and Wales founded on 25 January 2004 in London. Its name is a backronym standing for Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community, and Trade Unionism. It is often referred to simply as Respect or as the Respect Party.

 Solidarity with Gaza: On the side of the Palestinian people

Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire

France

The LCR brings its total support to the united demonstration organized against the Israeli aggression and in support of the Palestinian people.

It is on Tuesday December 30 at 18:00, where Gare Montparnasse meets rue de Rennes.

Montreuil, December 29, 2008

* LCR - Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (Revolutionary Communist League) - French Section of the Fourth International

For LCR’s communiqués in French on Gaza, see: Stop au massacre du peuple palestinien and Bombes sur Gaza – Solidaires du peuple palestinien