The Communist Party of Canada condemns the calculated slaughter of 60 Palestinian protestors, and the deliberate wounding of 2,700 others including women, children, and the elderly by Israeli snipers on the border with Gaza May 14th. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity under the UN Charter, which the government of Canada and all people of good conscience must condemn, and demand that Israel be held accountable under international law. The CPC also condemns the deliberate provocation by the US to move its Embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. We call on the Canadian government to reverse its shameful abstention on UN resolutions opposing the US decision to move its Embassy to Jerusalem, which implicitly enabled and encouraged the Israeli government actions this week.
Further, Canada should join with Turkey and South Africa to immediately expel Israeli diplomats, and impose boycotts, divestment and sanctions on Israel to express Canadians’ revulsion and opposition to the Israeli slaughter of unarmed Palestinians this week, and over an extended period. The labour and democratic movements and all peace-loving people must demand imposition of UN resolution 242 which sets out a political solution to long-term and catastrophic Israeli aggression and to a growing threat of regional and global war.
These Israeli war crimes were premeditated by the government and military, and deliberately planned to coincide with the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba May 15th, when Palestinian protests against the US-Israeli provocation would draw the greatest number of unarmed men, women and children to demonstrate at the border. Israeli snipers were shooting to kill, and to permanently maim thousands who survived the snipers, but may not survive the thousands of gunshot wounds which have overwhelmed doctors and hospitals. The Red Cross reports that hospitals – without electricity and supplies due to the eleven year old Israeli blockade of Gaza – were over-whelmed with the dying and wounded, many of whom had been shot with exploding and fragmenting bullets intended to leave fist-sized exit holes in limbs. Deaths included children, and an 8 month old baby suffocated by an Israeli gas attack.
After years of aggression and war against the Palestinian people, including the illegal arrest, imprisonment, torture and murder of thousands of Palestinian civilians; the collective punishment of Palestinians deemed illegal under international law by former UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon; the continuous and illegal expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land and the bulldozing of Palestinian homes and communities; the creation of walled Palestinian towns without access to water, food, medicines and supplies; the illegal blockade of Gaza, and the illegal Israeli hijacking in international waters of boats bringing humanitarian supplies to Gaza; and the continuous efforts of successive Israeli governments to block and prevent implementation of UN resolutions that would lead to a just political solution; all of this and more describes Israel as the perpetrator of crimes against the Palestinian people, crimes against humanity, for which Israel, aided and abetted by the US, must be held accountable.
Israel’s attack on the Palestinians followed Israeli attacks on Syria just days before. These were also supported by the US and its war-mongering President Donald Trump. These actions by Israel and the US – both heavily armed with nuclear weapons – are a threat to the whole world.
We call on the labour and democratic movements and all peace loving peoples across Canada to demand the Canadian government condemn, and demand an end to, the US-backed Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people, now in its sixth week. Further, we call on the labour and democratic movements and all those concerned with peace in the region to demand implementation of UN Resolution 242, which sets out the framework for a political solution to the crisis, including a return to Israel’s 1967 borders, creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return for Palestinians living in exile.
We also call on the labour and democratic movements, and all peace-loving peoples to demand the Canadian government oppose Israeli attacks on Syria, which are acts of war and illegal under international law, and which threaten to escalate tensions into a much larger war in the Middle East.
Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada