Statement on the Situation in Palestine

The situation in Palestine is getting more critical every day due to the escalated levels of aggression practiced by the Israeli occupation. A brief look at the numbers of killed and injured people is necessary to evaluate the harshness and the brutality of the Israeli practices against the Palestinian people.

During the last week, more than 120 persons were killed in Gaza, under the pretext of fighting “terrorism” emerging from that strip. The result was the mass murder that resulted in the death of 120 persons with an overwhelming majority of children, elderly and innocent people in their own houses.

International silence regarding the massacres, accompanied by the US support for the Israeli attacks, was also complemented by regional support for the operations. The building of the “peace process” advertised by the president of USA during his last visit to the region requires demolishing the life of more than one million people living in Gaza and killing the dream of the return of some million refugees to their homeland.

Since September 2000, the year of the emergence of the second Palestinian uprising, 4,528 Palestinians were killed including 982 children. Another 31,815 Palestinians were injured. Currently, 10,756 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israel, most without trials. Among the prisoners are Marwan Barghoti leader of Fatah resistance, Ahmad Saadat Secretary General of PFLP and tens of democratically elected parliament members. The imprisonment of thousands of people including the political leaders is a failed Israeli strategy to kill the massive struggles of the Palestinian people for an independent state guaranteeing their sovereign independent prosperous life.

The current unemployment rate in Palestine is 40%, and is much higher in Gaza which is under severe blockade preventing even the basic food and medical supplies from more than a million people living a humiliating life which is the harshest in their history since being invaded by Israel in the year 1967.

Since that year, 18,147 Palestinian houses were intentionally destroyed by Israel and those houses provided the shelter for more than 100,000 people.

Israel now has 223 settlements inside the West Bank, and those settlements are Jewish-only lands. In accordance, USA has declared that it supports Israel as a Jewish state, meaning the threat of throwing out more than one million additional Palestinian as refugees outside their houses.

Facing this crucial situation, WFDY condemns the practices of Zionist Israel towards the Palestinian people and asks its member organizations around the world to:

●    Participate in the international solidarity visit to West Bank towards the end of May 2008.

●   Sign a petition demanding the immediate release of the Palestinian detainees in Israel including the leaders of Intifada Marwan Barghoti, Ahmad Saadat and all others.

●    Organize demonstrations in front of the Israeli embassies in their countries and submit the petition.

●    Spread this statement to the local media and to the masses.

●     Organize solidarity activities in their countries to enlighten the people about the situation.

●   Organize fund raising to support the Palestinian people in Palestine and refugee camps.

●    Ask their governments to support the just causes for the Palestinian people and demand the immediate stop of the aggressions and the full withdrawal from the Palestinian territories.

We salute the youth struggles for their rights which will lead to the elimination of all forms of occupation, exploitation, racism and discrimination in Palestine and the region.