30 June 2006

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Israeli security forces have kidnapped 7 cabinet ministers and around 60 members of Parliament and senior Government officials in Palestine. Its attacks on Gaza with bombing of bridges, taking out its only power plant and other civilian targets, are nothing but inflicting collective punishment on civilian population, reminiscent of Nazi Germany and medieval barbarity. It is clear that the Israel is spinning out of control, which sees targeted assassinations, reprisals against the civilian population and aerial bombardment of its occupied territories as business as usual.

The latest Israeli attacks are supposed to be in retaliation for an attack on its outpost that has killed two soldiers and with another one being held hostage. Its own attacks on Gaza for the past month which has killed more than 30 civilians and wounded dozens seriously, the shelling of the beach which killed a family of seven, its sending commandos to kidnap 2 Palestinians a day before the Hamas attack on its outpost, and numerous such incidents are not seen by Israel to be of any consequence.

The reason that Israel remains intransigent on Palestine, is the encouragement and protection it has received from the US and the European Union. It is obvious that the US regards Israel as vital to its neo-colonial enterprise in West Asia. The CPI(M) calls upon the Indian Government to oppose the brutal attacks of Israel on the Palestinian population and its elected representatives.

The CPI(M) also hopes that all Palestinian groups will rally together in this critical hour and forge the largest possible unity amongst the Palestinian people.

CPI(M) emphasizes that security and peace can only be achieved by
putting an end to the Israeli occupation, evacuation of all Israeli
settlements and establishing an independent Palestinian State. Only a negotiated peace on these lines can lead to a resolution of this problem and not the continuing spiral of violence that Israel is imposing on its occupied territories.  The CPI(M) also calls upon the peace-loving, democratic and anti-imperialist Indian people who believe in justice and human dignity to come out in protest against this brutal and dastardly attack on the Palestinian people.