Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Denounce Israeli Violence on Palestinian People
Israeli security forces have been conducting an undeclared war on the Palestinian people for the past three weeks. More than a hundred Palestinians, many of them young boys, have been shot down by the Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian protesters are hurling stones against the bullets and helicopter gunships of the Israelis. Refusing to implement important provisions of the peace agreement, the Israeli government has now embarked upon a policy of brutal repression which has sabotaged the prospects of a political settlement to ensure an independent state of Palestine.
The Vajpayee government has entered into close ties with the Israeli government including security cooperation. It is even seeking the assistance of Israel for internal security matters as in Kashmir. The BJP-led government has reversed the traditional Indian policy of firm support to the Palestinian people for self-determination and against Israeli aggression. This runs contrary to the anti-imperialist sentiments of the Indian people.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that the Vajpayee government immediately come out in clear-cut terms denouncing the Israeli government-sponsored violence. It should demand a meeting of the Security Council where Israel should be condemned. The Vajpayee government cannot take a position of neutrality on the future of the Palestinian people, a cause which India has upheld ever since independence.