The Palestine Solidarity Network – Malta* is today holding two activities in solidarity with the people of Gaza - a Stop the Genocide symbolic action at City Gate, Valletta and a Candle-light Vigil for Gaza in front of the US embassy in Ta’ Qali. The attack on Gaza has already killed more than 1,400 Palestinians. It is also clear that several war crimes have been committed. For instance, Israel shelled two UN schools, three hospitals and bombed a market during a humanitarian pause.
The Palestine Solidarity Network believes that the attack on Gaza is part of the Zionist philosophy which seeks to create a state of Israel with ‘maximum land and minimum Arabs’ in Palestine. More than half of the Gazan population is composed of refugees who fled Zionist militias terrorizing Palestinian villages in 1948. From 1967 onwards Gaza has been subjected to a brutal military occupation. In 1994 Israel started severely limiting the flow of goods and people into this small strip of land, initiating a process of ghettoization. In 2007 it started a full-blown siege on Gaza. 1.8 million people, in a space the size of Malta, have to live in an open-air prison with little employment and frequent fuel, medical, food and water shortages. Most of the basic supplies have to pass through underground tunnels, regularly destroyed by Israel and Egypt.
Bombing and invading an open-air prison that has been besieged for the past eight years is nothing short of genocide. In these past eight years, apart from weekly military attacks, Gaza suffered three large-scale military aggressions, in 2008/9, 2012 and 2014. We appeal to all people and institutions around the world to condemn this genocide and take concrete actions to stop it.
Moreover, this is a gradual genocide being committed with full US support. Apart from constant political and economic support, the US gives around 3.5 billion dollars in annual military aid to Israel. The US should immediately stop this aid and all other support given to a state which is constantly committing acts of terror on the Palestinian population.
The Palestine Solidarity Network – Malta believes that a boycott of, and sanctions against, Israel are absolutely necessary. As most of the world boycotted and sanctioned countries like Apartheid South Africa or Nazi Germany, the same should be done to the apartheid state of Israel committing acts of genocide on the Palestinians population.
The Palestine Solidarity Network - Malta welcomes the Foreign Minister’s statement that Malta will not be supporting Israel’s bid for a seat in the UN Security Council. However, we also note that the Maltese Government has not yet clearly condemned the aggression by the Israeli state. Calling on ‘both parties to exercise restraint’ is nonsensical, since here we have a fully-armed Israeli state unleashing its military force on a people that have been dispossessed by this same state, living under siege for the past eight years
*The Palestine Solidarity Network – Malta is a group of organisations and individuals active against the systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population. The organisations within the network include: Moviment Graffitti, Third World Group, Koperattiva Kummerc Gust, Integra Foundation, Zminijietna – Voice of the Left, Arab Maltese Community, Partit Komunista Malti, Arabic Culture Information Society and Garden of Knowledge.
PRESS RELEASE 2/8/14
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