A regional teleconference of the Communist and Workers’ Parties of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Gulf region conducted to express solidarity with the Palestinian people was held last Sunday, November 29, under the auspices of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). In 1977, the General Assembly of the United Nations called for the annual observance of November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. On that date in 1947, the Assembly adopted the resolution to partition Palestine

Dimitris Koutsoumbas (left), General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), delivers the introductory speech to the teleconference on the Question of Palestine, November 29, 2020. (Photo: KKE)

Participating In this year’s conference were leading members of the Communist Party of Israel, the Democratic Progressive Tribune of Bahrain, AKEL (Cyprus), the Tudeh Party of Iran, the Jordanian Communist Party, the Palestinian Communist Party, the Palestinian Peoples Party, the Sudanese Communist Party, the Syrian Communist Party, the Syrian Communist Party [Unified] and the Communist Party of Turkey.

The Secretary General of the Communist Party of Israel, Adel Amer, said during the conference, “International solidarity is a very important factor in backing the Palestinian cause, along with the struggle of the Palestinian people to obtain their national and historical rights, as well as the struggle for real peace by forces inside Israel to end the Israeli occupation. Today, this factor is becoming more and more important given plans to liquidate the Palestinian issue within the framework of the projects of imperialism and its allies and proxies in the region.” “Our vision – in the Communist Party of Israel – for a solution is based on the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially Resolution 181 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on this day 73 years ago. Our party’s position is that the legal, political and moral legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel will remain incomplete as long as the Palestinian people, in turn, do not exercise their right to self-determination and establish their independent state.”

According to Amer, “The demand of the hour in this regard is to strengthen and deepen solidarity with the Palestinian people, and to lay down practical programs to return the struggle for the Palestinian issue to the political agenda, at the center of which is the sweeping away of the Israeli occupation and settlements and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state withing the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees, according to UN resolutions. This program, which our party was proactive in proposing, [was formulated] not because it represents absolute justice, but because it is a realistic and possible exit that would guarantee the minimum national and historical rights for the Palestinian people, in addition to ensuring the security and welfare of the masses of the people and citizens of Israel.”

“Our Communist Party and its allies are engaged in political and class struggles between the Jewish and Arab masses in Israel, despite the various restrictions due to COVID-19. Last June, we organized a huge demonstration on the anniversary of [the war that Israel launched on] June 5, 1967, in which tens of thousands of Arabs and Jews participated, under the slogan “No to annexation, occupation, and apartheid.” We seek to strengthen and expand alliances in the field that serve the struggle against the occupation, including permanent cooperation and coordination with our sister party, the Palestinian People’s Party. We, as communist and workers’ parties, are committed to increase solidarity with the Palestinian people. It is for this reason that we are obligated primarily to struggle against imperialism and its allies in the region,” Amer said.

Texts of all the contributions to the solidarity conference (English and Arabic): http://www.solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Greece-Regional-Metting-of-the-Communist-and-Workers-Parties-of-the-Eastern-Mediterranean-the-Middle-East-and-the-Gulf-region/