The Communist Party of Britain has welcomed the upsurge in mass demonstrations around the world in solidarity with the Palestinian people. But the party’s international secretary John Foster called for the protests to continue and even escalate, to put pressure on national governments to force Israel to the negotiating table with Palestinian representatives.
‘Persuasion having failed over recent decades, sanctions against the Israeli state are necessary in order to bring such talks about’, he told the CPB political committee on Wednesday evening.
‘A two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders, establishing a sovereign state of Palestine alongside a secure Israel, remains the only realistic solution to the ongoing conflict and the oppression of the Palestinians’, Mr Foster insisted.
While describing the removal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as ‘a step back from conflagration’, he pointed out that the first leader of the new unity coalition government, Naftali Bennett, has been an inflexible supporter of illegal settlements on the Palestinian West Bank.
Britain’s Communists urged a big turnout for the ‘Justice for Palestine’ demonstration opposite 10 Downing Street in London on June 12, called to coincide with US President Biden’s visit to Britain to attend the G7 summit.
‘Unfortunately, EU plans to break up Syria and the military provocations being staged across the Asia-Pacific region by US, British and European NATO forces threaten further conflict in place of cooperation for peace and justice’, Mr Foster declared.
The CPB political committee also urged support for an online meeting, ‘End the Colonial Occupation of Palestine!’, organised for Tuesday June 8 by Liberation. Speakers include Communist Israeli Knesset Member Aida Touma-Suleiman, Jeremy Corbyn MP and Aqel Taqas of the Palestinian People’s Party.
Registration is available at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/end-the-colonial-occupation-of-palestine-tickets-156671395361.