Solidarity with the Palestinian people!

by southern comfort Sun Jan 18, 2009 13:11

Obama's white house chief of staff is to be Rahm Emanuel,link below. As our american cousins say, go figure.

by pat c Sun Jan 11, 2009 15:57

No to Israel’s barbaric war!

Hands Off the People of Iran condemns unreservedly the massacre of Palestinians by Israeli military forces. Air raids on Gaza have killed hundreds and land invasion with tanks and heavy weapons has created hell for the inhabitants of Gaza. No words can express our horror at the barbaric actions of the utterly unscrupulous set of leaders in Israel using their soldiers to commit war crimes.

Clearly this operation is in line with US imperialist strategy in the region, part of the so-called ‘war on terror’. This is confirmed by the refusal of the current President and President elect, Obama , to condemn Israel or to support calls for a ceasefire. The biased reporting of these events by sections of the Western media has given the impression that this is a war against Hamas and Islamic fundamentalism. The reality is that the victims of the onslaught are defenceless Palestinians who in a desperate search for any viable opposition to Israeli colonialism voted for Hamas in 2006.

HOPI does not support Hamas and believes it does not offer a real alternative to imperialism. Its politics will lead to further disasters. However, we reject the lies about Hamas told by Israeli military spokespersons to justify their barbaric war. Very few reporters have reminded their audience that it was Israeli forces that broke a four-month long ceasefire on November 4. Few have mentioned the fact that in the late 1980s, it was Israel that supported Hamas in order to weaken secular, leftist Palestinian groups. Few have reminded their audience that Israel actually encouraged the corrupt and pliant Fatah leadership to overthrow their religious political rivals and recapture power - a poisonous policy of divide and rule. Aggressive American neoconservatives participated in the sinister plot to instigate a Palestinian civil war. (Avi Shlaim – Guardian 7/01/09) The reactionary Arab regimes in the region have once again proved they have no intention of supporting the Palestinians beyond some tired rhetoric. Egypt has actually aided the Israeli blockade, closing the Gaza frontier both to humanitarian aid and to volunteers attempting to bring in medical aid. As far as the Iranian government is concerned, after all the slogans and propaganda in defence of ‘Palestine’, its currents silence about Israeli atrocities speaks volumes. A h m a d i n e j a d ’ s posturing, whether on nuclear weapons or by hosting neo-Nazis, has only helped Israeli propaganda and the warmongers in Washington. Yet even in the field of diplomatic efforts, Iran’s response is muted. At a time when Palestinians need regional help, the regime puts its own interests first and keeps its head down. No one should put any trust in the Islamic regime in Tehran. It has actually helped the enemy sow sectarian division among the Palestinians in Lebanon and Iraq. Iranian-backed militias have ethnically cleansed thousands of Palestinian refugees from Iraq, under the eyes of the occupation regime.

The Iranian rulers have traded oil and arms with Israel, and if they use the Palestinian people to serve their interests today, it would be as pawns, to be sacrificed tomorrow.

However the people of Iran have a right and duty to aid the Palestinian people in any way they can. Not because of a shared religion. Instead, it is part and parcel of working class international solidarity and it has its roots in the history of radical leftist forces in the region.