Statement by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A.Kyprianou on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Statement by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A.Kyprianou on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
29th November 2019, Embassy of Palestine, Nicosia
Dear friend, Ambassador of Palestine Jubran Taweel, we are here today at the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Cyprus to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people during this difficult time which the entire Middle East and our troubled region of the Eastern Mediterranean is going through.
Fifty-two years after 1967, unfortunately not only is the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories continuing, but it is intensifying. On 17th November, the US Government through its Secretary of State stated that Israel’s colonization policy does not violate International Law. It declared that the colonization of Palestinian territories as not illegal. This is a position that harbors huge dangers also for us here in Cyprus. It reverses the position supported by the US since 1977. To put it simply, the US are violating international law that defines the colonization of occupied territories as constituting a war crime. As AKEL we have strongly denounced Mr. Pompeo’s statement. We regret the fact that the Government of Mr. Anastasiades didn’t find the strength to do likewise.
It is estimated that more than 750,000 settlers have been transferred to the settlements that Israel has built and is expanding in the occupied areas. They are stealing the land, water and natural resources of Palestine, expelling the population there, such as the Bedouin communities, whilst they are committing endless atrocities against the lawful inhabitants. Colonialization is constantly diminishing the potential for the lawful inhabitants developing any economic activity. It mainly breaks up the Palestinian territories, destroying the possibility of the existence of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Two years ago (December 2017), the US decided to transfer its Embassy to Jerusalem, supporting Israel’s illegal act of declaring, through its Basic Law, the city as its indivisible capital. The US has taken this action after 37 years in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 478. The transfer and opening of their Embassy in Jerusalem led to justified mobilizations that are being repressed bloodily.
The US subsequently recognized “sovereignty” of the state of Israel over the Golan Heights occupied since 1967 which represent Syrian territory. This action violates international law too. This act took place at a time when the “Islamic State” and the terrorist organizations that had as their goal the destruction and division of Syria had almost been completely crushed; forces that were supported and being armed by various external forces.
Their unacceptable efforts to abolish the international recognition of refugee status for the five million Palestinian refugees must also be added to these actions of the US government.
It is all these actions, together with Israel’s impunity, that do not only permit, but encourage and reinforce violations of international law and international humanitarian law, the gross violations of human rights and the ongoing crimes being committed against the Palestinian people. Gaza is the subject of a continuous blockade and is on the verge of humanitarian disaster, there are a great number of political prisoners including women and children, and the demolitions of homes and the targeted killings being carried out are continuing.
AKEL is denouncing Israel’s actions and the support the US provides, both in the House of Representatives as well as in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. We demand that the international community, as well as the European Union, mobilize themselves and make use of the instruments of international law to protect Palestinians, end the occupation and the crimes being committed. We express our unreserved solidarity with the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people and the progressive forces in Israel who are struggling to put an end to the occupation.
We will be with you on your side until the just and peaceful solution of the problem will come with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of 4th June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital city. This is the only way that preconditions will be created for peace to prevail in the Middle East to the benefit of the children and future generations of both Palestine and Israel.
