End the occupation and the bloodshed
Sunday 15 October 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
The developments in Israel and Palestine are shocking and worrying. The new upsurge of violence in the Middle East and the plans for the complete destruction of Gaza by Israel mean new rivers of blood and refugees, a new cycle of annihilation and insecurity. The visible danger of a general conflagration in the Middle East will have disastrous consequences for all the states, the peoples of our region and the world. AKEL joins its voice with all the people of the world who are calling for the United Nations and the international community to mobilise themselves so that an immediate ceasefire is achieved, the bloodshed ends and the way for a permanent and just peace in the Middle East will be opened.
AKEL and every logical person are quite clear about what has been happening in recent days. Hamas’ terrorist atrocities against Israeli civilians have nothing whatsoever to do with the Palestinians’ legitimate right to resist the occupation. The State of Israel’s all-out attack on the Gaza Strip and the massacres being committed of Palestinian civilians do not constitute protection of its citizens, but instead an escalation of ethnic cleansing and collective punishment prohibited by international humanitarian law.
At the same time, no matter how much the attempt to turn the truth upside down in the last twenty-four hours, the entire planet knows that the bloody history of the Middle East did not begin last week, that there is an occupying power on the one hand and a people fighting for their freedom and dignity on the other. The root of the problem lies in the Israeli occupation spanning many years and the growing colonisation of the Palestinian territories, in the many years long inhumane blockade of Gaza and the intensification of the violence of the occupying forces and settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
AKEL has been and will remain in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people and all peace-loving forces in Israel and the wider Middle East for a two state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, which will coexist peacefully alongside the State of Israel.
AKEL calls on the Christodoulides government to categorically reaffirm the commitment of the Republic of Cyprus to international law and the relevant Resolutions of the Security Council of the United Nations in relation to the Middle East and points out that our country, itself a victim of occupation and colonisation, must remain consistent and credible. We call on all the Cypriot people in these critical times to stand on the right side of history, to unite and raise our voice demanding an end to the occupation and bloodshed.
