Abandoning principles for the sake of powerful allies eventually comes back at you as a boomerang

 

Statement of Georgos Loucaides, AKEL C.C. Spokesperson

AKEL C.C Press Office, 14th January 2016, Nicosia

The President of the governing DISY party Averof Neophytou, during his visit to Israel, claimed that “Cyprus no longer sees Israel as an aggressive country that imposes its will by force against the Palestinians, but rather as a small nation struggling for its survival…having to face hundreds of millions of Muslims and Arabs, part of whom don’t even recognize the right of the existence of a Jewish state.” Has the President of DISY really thought about “which side is strong, and which side is weak? Which side is fighting for survival?”

The President of DISY party must realize that it is one thing to seek to develop mutually beneficial relations of cooperation with all the countries in our neighborhood, including Israel, something moreover that was promoted correctly during the period of the Christofias government, and it’s quite another thing to distort history and reality while simultaneously undermining Cyprus’ relations over many years with the Palestinians and the Arab world. Hasn’t the President of DISY party ever seen the millions of Palestinian refugees scattered around the world? Hasn’t he ever seen the relentless ongoing colonization of the occupied Palestinian territories? Hasn’t he ever seen the thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including children? Israel’s nuclear arsenal? The illegal Wall of Shame erected in the West Bank? Hasn’t he ever seen the blockade of Gaza and the 550 dead children as a result of the Israeli raid in Gaza in 2014?

DISY should already have understood from its previous misfortunes with regards its positions on our country’s foreign policy that the logic of abandoning principles for the sake of powerful allies eventually comes back at you as a boomerang.