Britain’s Communists have reaffirmed their solidarity with the Palestinian people under siege in Gaza and demanded progress towards the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.
Responding to the outbreak of fresh hostilities in Israel and Gaza over the weekend, CP general secretary Robert Griffiths insisted there would be no peace in the region until the Israeli state ends its illegal occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and ceases its ‘slow strangulation’ of the Gaza Strip.
‘Not only successive Israeli governments but also the major imperialist powers bear the ultimate responsibility for this latest and inevitable Palestinian revolt against occupation and tyranny’, he told the Communist Party executive committee on Sunday (October 8).
‘Instead of demanding that Israel negotiate with the representatives of the Palestinian people to create an independent, sovereign Palestine alongside a sovereign and secure Israel, the US, Germany and Britain continue to arm Tel Aviv’s state terrorists to the teeth’, he accused.
The CP executive urged people to join the international movement of solidarity with the Palestinian people and to intensify the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the Israeli state. The Communists welcomed recent statements issued by the Palestine People’s Party and the Communist Party of Israel and echoed the call on all forces in the conflict to safeguard civilian lives.
In his final report to the outgoing party executive, Robert Griffiths warned against arrogance and complacency about likely result of the next General Election.
‘Labour’s victory over the SNP in last Thursday’s by-election in Rutherglen & Hamilton West should not conceal the harsh fact that more than six electors in every ten there didn’t vote at all’, he pointed out, ‘which underlines the need for Labour to embrace bold, inspirational policies such as public ownership of energy and transport, a Wealth Tax on the super-rich and massive public investment in council housing, health, education, advanced technology and the Green New Deal’.
CP international secretary Kevan Nelson reported that leaders of Communist and workers’ parties in South Africa, India, Ireland and Belgium would be among the guests at the Communist Party of Britain’s 57th Congress over the weekend of November 3-5.