RESOLUTION
Solidarity with Palestine
(Adopted by the 23rd Congress on April 8, 2022)
The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) reiterates its solidarity with the people of Palestine, who have been fighting for their homeland for more than seven decades.
Starting on March 30, 2018, the Palestinian people began a series of mass protests for the right to return to their homeland. These protests lasted for more than two years and were suspended in 2020, during the pandemic. The Israeli government killed more than 260 Palestinians, mostly by sniper fire and injured thousands more. The killing of Palestinians had become a daily affair.
The Israel government’s attitude towards the Palestinians has turned more belligerent in the recent period, particularly after the US had recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and shifted its embassy there. The open backing of the US administration, the declaration of its “Deal of the Century”, emboldened the Israeli government, which had enacted a law declaring Israel as a “Jewish Nation State.” This law denies Arab Palestinians who are about 21 percent of the population of Israel, all their rights and marks them as second-class citizens.
The Law encourages and promotes the establishment of Jewish settlements, driving away Palestinian people from their homes and land. Many Palestinian residential areas have been converted into islands because of the construction of the “apartheid wall,” which separates Palestinian homes from their lands, markets, schools and places of worship.
More than 2.6 million Palestinians live in the West Bank in dozens of disconnected enclaves, under harsh military rule and without political rights. Israel has established more than 280 settlements in the West Bank (East Jerusalem included); these are now home to more than 600,000 Jews. Palestinians are forced to take permits from Israeli authorities in order to move from one area to another.
The Jewish State Law declared that the “unified and complete city of Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.” This is against UN Resolutions and is a major blow to the two-State solution. This Law officially refuses to accept either the 1967 borders or East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestinian State. This is a denial of the right of existence of the Palestinian State.
The Gaza Strip, home to about two million Palestinians, is repeatedly under Israeli attack. After the Hamas takeover in 2007, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, one that is still in place. Throughout this period, Israel has continued to control nearly every aspect of life in Gaza from outside. As a result of this debilitating blockade and Israeli attacks, Gaza has become an open-air prison. Even humanitarian aid is allowed to enter Gaza only if Israel so desires. Children in Gaza are severely malnourished. During the pandemic, Israel pursued a policy of medical apartheid, denying the people of Gaza even the minimum necessary medicines.
According to reports, there are some 60 laws that actively discriminate Palestinians in housing, education, healthcare sectors and other sectors.
In 2020, the UN called Israeli occupation in Palestine, “the longest belligerent occupation in the modern world.” Israel also earned the dubious distinction of being the most condemned country by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
It is after the BJP came to office that India, for the first time, abstained from voting in support of Palestine and against Israel in the UN.
The BJP government and its mentor RSS, share a natural affinity with modern day Zionism and hence take pride in their friendship and association with their ideological compatriots in Israel.
This 23rd Congress of the CPI(M) reiterates its solidarity with Palestine and the Palestinian people, which is an integral part of our struggle against imperialism and communalism. We resolve to strengthen the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement against the apartheid Israeli State and demand that the Indian government immediately cut all military and security ties with Israel. We also demand the immediate establishment of a Palestine State with 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.