June 11, 2001

ISRAEL OUT! PEACE NOW!

Statement by the Central Executive Committee
Communist Party of Canada

ARIEL SHARON'S provocative "visit" to the Temple Mount with thousands of Israeli soldiers last September 28 indicated his intentions to derail the already fragile but ongoing peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis. After his election in February, Sharon and his government have done everything possible to end the peace process and to restart the slaughter of Palestinians.

The Palestinians have responded the only way a people living under occupation can and must respond – RESISTANCE. Al-Aqsa Intifada was launched again by the heroic Palestinian people, tired of being oppressed and herded like cattle on their own land, tired of seeing their houses demolished by the Israeli Armed Forces, tired of seeing their land in the West Bank and Gaza stolen from them to build more Israeli Jewish Settlements in a not so veiled attempt by Israel to continue its historic land-grab of Arab territory, and tired of broken promises of an impending peace only to be thrown into limbo by Israeli reactionary forces.

Since the re-launch of the Intifada, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed with 437 children disabled for life and 139 children killed by Israeli soldiers. This, and the mounting opposition of the populace in the Arab countries to Israeli policies, has forced many Arab leaders, who usually dance to US Imperialism's tune, to call for a break in relations with Israel.

The US Administration, wanting to tighten its control of Sharon and his government, and in an effort to kick start the peace process, have come out with the Mitchell report which suggests that Israel "freeze all settlement activity" including the expansion of existing settlements. The report also calls on the Palestinian Authority to stop the Intifada and to control militant organizations like Hamas.

What US imperialism and the reactionaries in Israel fail to recognize is that a just and lasting peace can be achieved very quickly with Israel's total withdrawal from all the territories occupied in 1967 including Arab East Jerusalem as well as the implementation of the right of return for the refugees in accordance with UN resolution 194.

Sharon and his reactionary government are again posing a real threat to peace in the Middle East. They continue to drag the working people of Israel into acting as occupiers and oppressors of the Palestinian people, and to condemn the Palestinians to suffer the Zionist policies of expansionism, racism and oppression. This cannot continue.

International solidarity with the Palestinian people is growing. Canadian progressives and all peace-loving people must put pressure on the ChrŽtien government to demand that the Israeli government end its aggression against the Palestinians and to restart the peace negotiations immediately.

The time for peace in the Middle East and for a just solution to the Palestinian question is now. The alternative is unthinkable.

© 2001 Communist Party of Canada