OCCUPATION AND COLONALISATION: IN CYPRUS, BUT ALSO IN PALESTINE
Article by Vera Polycarpou, Member of the C.C. of AKEL, Head of the International Relations Bureau of the C.C. of AKEL
16th May 2021, “HARAVGI”
What is the Anastasiades-DISY government really thinking when it declares that it is playing an important role in the effort to bring peace in the Middle East?
What credibility can it have when it identifies and lines up with those forces and circles who are covering up the crimes committed by the Israeli armed forces against the Palestinian people, whilst finding no words whatsoever to condemn both the provocations and violence against the Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem or the Israeli bombing raids of Gaza?
Even the EU foreign policy chief, despite trying to maintain a position of equal distancing, has himself admitted in essence that Israel is accountable for violations of international humanitarian law. The transformation of Cyprus into a submissive supporter of Israel can only bring misery, including the loss of support for our own struggle against the Turkish occupation and colonization. But why;
How did the escalation of tension, conflict and bloodshed that is taking place in front of the eyes of the whole world begin? It was provoked after days of violence were committed against Palestinians – Christians and Muslims – with bans imposed during Easter and Ramadan on their attendance at holy shrines. The provocations by the Israeli armed forces inside the places of worship led to hundreds of wounded. This is in violation of the status of the places of worship in Jerusalem, which has been in force since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.
At the same time, in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem, but also in the Siloam neighborhood, efforts were subsequently being made to forcibly evict Palestinians by settlers from their homes under the protection of the Israeli armed forces. Sheikh Jarrah is home to Palestinians who lost their homes and property in 1948. Many families are from Haifa. For years they have been under constant pressure, suffering attacks and intimidation to force them to leave their homes. Settlers invade their homes. Entire families and children are thrown onto the street – even during the course of a pandemic. There are many eyewitnesses to these persistent violations, which amount to blatant violations of international humanitarian law. Resolutions have been approved by the UN, but also by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Parliament denouncing all these actions.
All of these actions are part of Israel’s goal of turning Jerusalem into a purely Jewish city – the “indivisible” capital of Israel, as a continuation and consolidation of the occupation of East Jerusalem since 1967. The “wall of shame”, which Israel has built, also serves the same goal. It was built aiming to sever the connection of Palestinians from Jerusalem, the construction of which was denounced by the International Criminal Court in 2005.
The cover-up, support and impunity generously offered to the state of Israel by the United States and other powers fuels this illegal “claim”. We shall mention only the most recent actions: the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian territories in the Golan, and the illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in Jerusalem and the West Bank. What is happening in East Jerusalem is ethnic cleansing.
Furthermore, we should not forget that the Palestinian people are suffering from the longest occupation since 1967, while the mass uprooting of the Palestinians began on the day of “NAKBA”, known as the Catastrophe, on 15th May 1948.
We Cypriots are victims of occupation, uprooting and colonalisation. How does the Anastasiades government believe that Cyprus will continue to draw support from the international community for the termination of the Turkish occupation and colonalisation, for a solution to the Cyprus problem and reunification, when it stands on the side of the State of Israel ignoring violations of international law and international humanitarian law?
The role that Cyprus can play is to provide consistent support for the termination of the Israeli occupation and the recognition of an independent viable Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Only in this way will Israelis and Palestinians be able to live in peace and for peace to prevail in the troubled region of the Middle East.
P.S. The next time Israeli fighter jets are conducting air exercises in Cyprus from the Troodos mountain to Limassol, remember that Cyprus’ skies are being used for training those bombing and killing in Gaza…
