PFLP Solidarity Campaign Press Release:
For immediate release, Wednesday 28th April 2010
The Campaign of Solidarity with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stands in solidarity with the struggling masses in Palestine, and wishes to make its intentions known that we will actively oppose the newly established Zionist embassy in Wellington. As long as Zionism is politically active and furthering its colonialist ambitions in Palestine any Israeli state institution or embassy here will be targeted for protest action.
The embassy is a logical extension of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is headed by the extreme anti-Arab racist Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the right wing Yisrael Beitenu party in the Israeli Knesset. Lieberman has a long history of Anti-Arab racism calling Arab members of the Knesset “terror collaborators” and calling for their execution. He stated that Palestinian prisoners should be “drowned in the Dead Sea” and as acting transport minister at the time that he would provide the buses to take them there. Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism called Lieberman’s recent election campaign “an outrageous, abominable, hate-filled campaign, brimming with incitement that, if left unchecked, could lead Israel to the gates of hell.”
Not only does the Israeli Embassy provide a mouth piece for Racist Zionist ideology in New Zealand, but it also provides a sanctuary for the far reaching arm of the Israeli Mossad. It should not be forgotten that as recently as 2004 Israeli Mossad agents attempted to obtain New Zealand passports on false grounds under the name of a tetraplegic who had not spoken in years. One can only surmise the intentions of the Mossad agents if they had gained access to New Zealand passports, but as was recently highlighted in Britain, the Mossad carries out the Israeli state’s targeted assassinations of Palestinian political leaders, attempting, as the PFLP describe it, to “eradicate, dispossess and to destroy the Palestinian people and their national movement by any means.”
Recently campaign co-ordinator Mike Walker spoke to PFLP politburo member Leila Khaled who called on the New Zealand government and “all peace lovers in New Zealand”, to “act against opening such an Embassy.” Walker stated that “there will be no peace for representatives of Zionism in New Zealand” and that “the racist state of Israel needs to be isolated internationally, not embraced.”
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine released the following statement:
“The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine calls upon the people of New Zealand to reject the new, proposed Israeli embassy in Wellington. This embassy is far from innocuous – it is the official state representation of the ongoing war crimes being waged against the Palestinian people, a representative institution for land theft, siege, occupation, oppression and racism. Israeli embassies around the world are a center for war crimes, a welcome space for war criminals, and they legitimize the ongoing illegitimate occupation of Palestinian land.
Just as the people of the world demanded the isolation of apartheid South Africa, rejecting diplomatic ties with the apartheid racist regime, it is time to internationally isolate Israel and cut diplomatic ties with this state of racist hatred. The Palestinian people call upon you to act in solidarity with our struggle against oppression and reject the Israeli embassy in New Zealand, following the example provided by Venezuela and Bolivia, in cutting all diplomatic ties with the racist state.
This is a meaningful, powerful and principled expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for justice, return and liberation. We call upon you today to support the call for justice in Palestine and internationally isolate Israel.”
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israel is only trying to defend itself and its own people from terrorist’s who care nothing more except blowing up innocent civilians especially women and children. israel does support the idea of an independent palestinian state but how are they suppose to go about it when terrorist’s hellbent on it’s destruction continue to attack its way of life.
Matt: If you know your history you will come to the conclusion that the Zionist governments of Israel have been trying to push the Palestinians out of their own country since 1948!!
By every method of repression invented
It is impossible to understand the Palestinian resistance without putting it into the context of the entire struggle between Zionism and the Arabs.
The idea of a “defensive war against an attempt at genocide” fits nicely into a certain Jewish philosophy of history, which can be summed up in the famous sentence “From generation to generation, they rise up to destroy us.” In 1948 Israel was not trying to defend itself it was trying to cleanse its soon to be state of the Arab population, so that there would be a Jewish majority. Zionist leaders where very clear about this.
David Ben-Gurion wrote in his independence war dairy: “Blowing up a house in not enough. What is necessary is cruel and strong reactions. We need precision in time, place and casualties. If we know the family we must strike mercilessly, women and children included. Otherwise the reaction is inefficient. At the place of action there is no need to distinguish between guilty and innocent.”
Ben-Gurion wrote it down, while other Israeli leaders throughout the state’s 60 year history have applied this military doctrine in practice while killing and oppressing Arabs, from 1948 to the present. Ben-Gurion presided over the Nakba; Eshkol over the conquests of 1967 (where Jewish forces outnumbered Arabs by 3 to 1); Begin over Deir Yassin and Lebanon; Rabin over the bone-breaking of the first Intifada and, before that, over the evacuation of 60,000 unarmed Palestinian civilians from Ramleh and Lydda in 1948; Peres over the destruction of Qana in Lebanon; Barak personally took part in the assassination of Palestinian leaders; Sharon led the massacre of Qibya and was responsible for Sabra and Shatila.
Of course for a more recent example Matt, you could look at “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza.
http://workersparty.org.nz/2009/11/29/cast-lead-a-proportionate-response-in-palestine/
This was after a cease-fire, which Israel broke. Go and read the Goldstone Report, and then talk to me about Israel defending itself, and attacks on civilians….
And yes Matt, Israel supports an “independant” Palestinian state. Where ISRAEL controls the borders and maintains its settlements, where ISRAEL controls the airspace and the sea surrounding, where ISRAEL controls the economy and the political outcomes of “fair elections” and of course any Palestinian state would be de-militirised. Fuck that.
There will be no peace in the Middle East as long as the state of Israel exists, as Israel is a Zionist state, and as such will continue to settle the entire land from the Jordan to the sea and attempt to expel the Arabs.
A single secular state where all people, Jews, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, whatever…..are equal and enjoy equal rights, and where all Palestinian Refugees are allowed back to their land and homes which they have been denied since 1948….
Importantly Matt you make a fatal error in judging Palestinian goals as the destruction of the state of Israel, is the destruction of Zionism, not the destruction of the Jewish people.
On what do you base your so called “knowledge” on this subject Mr Walker? Where do you gather your information? How long have you spent in Palestine or the region as a whole amongst the people with whom you claim such a brotherhood. It is very easy to read books and text slanted toward an opinion that fits your beliefs and then quote ad nauseum the rhetoric they spout to fit your arguments with no real understanding of the situation!
Luke, your question was not removed. Comments from fist time commenters are moderated (mostly to avoid spam) we don’t have a full time moderator and I just saw and approved the comments now
Hi Luke, if you are genuinely interested in debating anything I have put forward I am more than happy to engage you and provide sources, but first you would have to actually provide a critique or identify what comments you think are so slanted and incorrect with any of the above press statement or my comment that followed?
Cheers, Mike.
As a response to Matt’s original comment I would say only this; compare how many Palestinian civilians have lost their lives in the conflict to that of how many Israeli civilians have died and you will see what a ridiculous comment you have made.
Mike has already made a great reply to Luke’s accusations but I would like to reinforce that if you want to criticise someone’s argument you need to actually provide rebuttal to the arguments made otherwise you are essentially saying nothing; it is an irrelevant waste of time. Mike mentions facts not mere opinions. Perhaps you would like to provide some evidence to refute those facts. As Mike said he is happy to provide his sources and debate the points he has made.
“It is very easy to read books and text slanted toward an opinion that fits your beliefs and then quote ad nauseum the rhetoric they spout to fit your arguments with no real understanding of the situation!”
It’s even easier to claim someone else’s claims are wrong without any kind of argument to back up the accusation.
Luke, can you then provide us with a ‘real understanding of the situation’? Have you spent time amongst the people of Palestine?
I think maybe you are missing the point Nick and Mike. As I read it Luke wasn’t claiming the argument to be wrong, doesn’t seem to be disagreeing generally and certainly hasn’t made any accusations, he is simply asking on what real knowledge and experience Mike is basing his argument. Personally I think he has a point – if all you’ve read is books and literature on a subject that conforms to the views you wish to believe how can you form an objective view of a situation – any situation….. This may not be the case but certainly Mike did not clarify the source of his knowledge or confirm that he has even travelled! Just my two cents.
“With the United Nations resolution on the partition of Palestine in November 1947, Arab riots broke out against numerous Jewish communities throughout the Arab world. Jewish shops, homes and synagogues were burned and looted; hundreds of Jews were murdered, thousands were imprisoned, their movement was restricted, emigration to Israel banned and many Jews were deprived of their citizenship. Jews who at one time were influential in commerce suddenly lost their holdings; bank accounts belonging to Jews were frozen, and property valued at millions of dollars was confiscated. As in previous centuries, Jews were further removed from government agencies and their admission to public office was severely restricted. They lost their means of survival and became hostages in their own countries of birth and origin. Consequently, they could no longer remain there. Where once Jewish communities flourished and thrived, their traces have been erased as Jews in large numbers were compelled to uproot and displace themselves and to leave all their property behind.”
I can only assume from your previous posts and comments that you see no issue with this historical account that seems to have been so conveniently forgotten by you and those that support your views. Maybe you should rename to the National Socialist Workers’ Party……sound familiar?
Fredrick, anybody with any knowledge of the Palestine issue knows that there were attacks on the Jewish communities living in the Arab world in the aftermath of the UN resolution (and before too on occasion). It isn’t enough though to simply site events; you need to put them in context. The anti-Jewish rioting and other measures are indefensible but they took place as a misdirected anger against a very real threat – that the Palestinians would soon be dispossessed of their land. This of course is precisely what happened the very next year. The Zionist leaders of the time (and prior to the establishment of the state) made it perfectly clear that they intended to drive as many Palestinians out as they possibly could, and Israeli Governments ever since have continued that policy. Palestinians who fled the fighting have never been allowed to return to their homes.
The Workers Party bears no resemblance (as you suggest) to the Nazi Party. The WP supports the establishment of a state where all have equal rights regardless of race or religion. The US and Israel forced the PLO to drop that demand and agree to a “solution” involving a racist (Zionist) state in Israel and a, presumably equally racist, state in Palestine. That is no recipe for peace, especially since Israel and its US ally will never allow Palestine to be equal to Israel, since that would represent a threat to the continued existence of the Zionist state. That’s why Israel insists that it retains control over Palestine’s airspace and its coastal waters.
As long as the rights (eg the right of return) of the Palestinians are denied Israel will see a free Palestine as a threat. In order to exist, Israel MUST deny the Palestinians the right of return. Therefore peace is impossible while Israel exists. The solution is not to eliminate the Jews (as you imply we believe) but to establish a truly democratic state in the region.
Cheers,
John
John Hull:
“I think maybe you are missing the point Nick and Mike. As I read it Luke wasn’t claiming the argument to be wrong…”
I think you are giving Luke more credit than he warrants John. He actually said:
“On what do you base your **so called** “knowledge” on this subject Mr Walker?” (My **…** emphasis)
And:
“…then quote ad nauseum the rhetoric they spout to fit your arguments with no real understanding of the situation!”
This is not the language of someone wishing to enquire after sources. However, if you or Luke are interested in learning more about the issue, and in particular, what the Israeli and Zionist leaders have had to say on the subject themselves, you could do worse than reading the work of Israel’s own “New Historians”, who have delved deeply into the personal diaries of the various leaders, the transcripts of debates, and the recently declassified documents of the Israeli Defence Force. The information in those primary sources is quite damning enough, without the need to search for “text slanted toward an opinion that fits [our] beliefs”. Benny Morris for example describes himself as a Zionist yet he recently stated that he believes the dispossessions (in Plan Dalet during 1947-8) were official policy – something he doubted in his earlier books. It doesn’t stop him documenting them because he believes they were the right thing to do.
Cheers,
John
Israel is the constant victim or racism, they are struggling to defend their TINY country, and you idiots want them to give that up?!
I support Israel all the way