PALESTINE UPDATE

No. 69 (2008.12.28) – OPGAI Denounces Israeli Massacre in Gaza Strip

OPGAI Denounces Israeli Massacre in Gaza Strip

PRESS RELEASE

Occupied Palestine Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI)

Dear Friends and Partners,

Once again the Zionist Israeli Government carried on a new massacre against the Palestinian people in Gaza, writing a new page of shame in the long Israeli criminal file.

The victims of this new bloodshed are thousands of innocent Palestinians and what is going on in Gaza reflects the aggressive behavior of the Israeli government and shows its racist nature.

Once again Palestinians in Gaza, who are under Zionist siege since 2 years, are facing a holocaust. Until now, approximately 300 martyrs died, more than 800 are injured and thousands of families are torn as a result of this attack.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian blood is being used by Livni, Barak and Natanyahu to attract votes for the coming elections, and it is taking place during the last days of Bush administration mandate in order to invest the last period in going on with the aggression wars.

The Palestinian launce of the simple homemade rockets has been used by the Israeli Government as the main reason to justify the attack, hiding the real goal of shutting the legitimate Palestinian demand of national rights and self determination up.

This attack is also an attempt to keep the situation under Israeli control and to deal with the Gaza issue only through a humanitarian perspective, rather than drawing the attention to the political dimension.

Another aim is to settle and deepen the Palestinian division between Gaza and the West Bank and to point at Gaza as the main enemy who threatens the Israeli security. Such division is used as the reason which allows Israel to continue the siege and justifies it in front of the increasing pressure of the international community against the Israeli embargo measures.

OPGAI sees what is happening in Gaza as a part of the long lasting Israeli oppression against the Palestinians in general and against Gaza in particular. We denounce the weakness and the impotence of the Arab countries in general and even the silent support of Israeli policy by some of them. The a.m. factors, together with the lack of an explicit denounce and opposition by the International community, allow the persistence of the Israeli offence and its catastrophic consequences.

As OPGAI, we trust in our people and its unity everywhere against any attempts to split; we trust in its steadiness and resistance in keeping high the flag of freedom.

We call for all the freedom supporters to intervene quickly and to stand firmly against the criminal actions carried on by Israel. We call for an explicit denounces and judgment of the Israeli leadership as war criminals and for the implementation of the boycott, divestment and sanction plan. We call for all the Arab countries and masses to sustain the Palestinian struggle for national rights and freedom and to form solidarity initiatives aiming at stopping the attacks and the siege of the Gaza Strip.

27th December 2008

Web link:

www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1481/381/

Palestine Update is an occasional mailing edited by Ranjan Solomon and sent out by Goa-based Alternatives on behalf of Alternatives/Badayl.