700 have been detained in public demonstrations held in Israel against war crimes in the Gaza Strip

From Communist Party of Israel

www.maki.org.il / info@maki.org.il

 

700 have been detained in public demonstrations held in Israel against war crimes in the Gaza Strip

 

 

Over 700 citizens and residents of Israel, mostly Arab-Palestinian, have been detained since Israel began its military attacks on the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008. Detentions were made in the wake of public demonstrations, held primarily in northern Israel, Tel-Aviv-Jaffa and also in the southern city of Bee-Sheva; against Israel’s war crimes in the Gaza Strip.  

In addition to the detention of demonstrators, Israel conducted interrogations and preventative detentions of Palestinian leaders in Israel. The Chairperson of the National Democratic Assembly (Balad), Awad Abd al-Fatah, spent a night in detention and was subsequently released without charges. The Secretary of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash), Ayman Odeh, was interrogated by the GSS (Shin-Bet), as were leaders of the Abna al-Balad, Muhammad Canaane and Raja Aghbariya.  

The violation of the right to freedom of expression of citizens and residents in Israel is part of two separate but interrelated campaigns being waged by the Israeli government: the (further) marginalization and de-legitimization of Arab-Palestinians national minority in Israel, and the concealment of protest within Israel against the attacks on Gaza.  



 

“The Gaza war”

By Shmuel Amir

8 January 2009

Upon the launching of the attack on Gaza, Ehud Barak struck the pose of Julius Caesar, who announced with his crossing of the Rubicon that “the die is cast”, and declared “combat has begun”. The question begged is, which combat exactly? Two sides are needed in order for there to be a war, as we all know; but here in Gaza, are there two sides to the bombing of Gaza from the air? On one side is there not an air force equipped with the best aircraft provided by its “friend”, the USA, while on the other side are completely defenceless people facing heavy bombardment that rains down on them from the heavens? Is there such a thing as a war in which only one side is fighting? Therefore the combat that Israeli Defence Minister Barak announced is not a war but a hunt! A hunt for humans who lack the minimal means to resist and who are slaughtered from the air. A hunt for sitting ducks. I recall the romantic films that we used to watch back in the day, in which two adversaries would fight with swords. When to one of them, even the evil one, lost his sword, his adversary would return his sword to him so as to avoid killing a defenceless man. That’s how it was in the movies. In the reality of today, one side stands without a sword in the face of an enemy armed from head to toe and they call it “war”. The war in Gaza in our day looks a lot more like a massacre.

 

The first air attack began on 27 December. It lasted 4 minutes over the course of which 200 people were killed. The second wave of attacks came a few minutes later. Until the ground invasion about 400 Palestinians were killed and 4 Israelis were killed by qassam missiles. The sum total so far indicates more than 500 killed Palestinians as against 5 Israelis killed. The number of Palestinian wounded is about 2,500, whereas on the Israeli side the number of wounded is estimated to be 50. These numbers tell the story of the unequal “Gaza war”.

 

Tomorrow: two big protests in Israel against the massacre in Gaza

 

From Communist Party of Israel
 
The killing in Gaza continues. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, thousands injured, air-strikes have caused utter devastation and entire families are left homeless. Civilians in the south of Israel are being held captive by a government which lies to them and abuses them. Destruction and death in Gaza will not ensure their future, but rather lead to more violence and killings.

Communist Party of Israel leading members met in Ramallah with representatives of left-wing Palestin

 

Communist Party of Israel leading members met in Ramallah with representatives of left-wing Palestinian factions
 
Communist Party of Israel leading members met in Ramallah with representatives of left-wing Palestinian factions, including the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian People’s Party. Militants from the four factions met Thursday (December 25, 2008) in Ramallah to coordinate future steps and to consider ways to strengthen the cooperation between them. The Communist Party of Israel was represented in the meeting by the secretary-general, Mohammed Nafa’h; and the chairman of Hadash, (The Democratic Peace and Equality Front), M.K. Mohammed Barakeh. This is the first time a meeting has been held in which representatives from all four factions were in attendance. "The Palestinian arena is today in desperate need of a progressive, leftist dialogue of unity," Barakeh said.

The Communist Party of Israel Condemns Deadly Attacks on Gaza and Calls for International Mobilizati

The Communist Party of Israel and Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) condemns today’s deadly attack by the Israeli Air Force on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the killing of over 150 Palestinians. The CPI calls on Communist and Workers parties and social movements throughout the world to mobilize against these Israeli war crimes and demands that the international community implement sanctions against Israel and indict Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak and other Israeli political and military leadership for these blatant war crimes, committed as part of Israel’s election process. 
 
 

Israel: Communist protestors say ‘no’ to Gaza op

 

Hundreds demonstrators attended a rally in central Tel Aviv today (Friday, December 26) to protest the expected Israeli military operation to Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza. The rally was organized by the Coalition against the Gaza Siege and Hadash (Democratic Peace and Equality Front – Communist Party of Israel).
 

Israel and the Current Capitalist Crisis

 

From the Communist Party of Israel
www.maki.org.il / interelations@maki.org.il
Israel and the Current Capitalist Crisis
by Daniel Rosenberg *
The financial crisis does not skip over Israel. The country that has been integrating itself in global capitalist markets in the last decades is once again seeing the ugliest side of capitalism, as the stock markets have dropped over a stunning 10 percent since the beginning of the month and the GDP growth forecast for the next couple of years has been slashed.
The crisis finds the Israeli society in worse shape than it was during the last recession, that of 2000-2003: currently about a quarter of Israeli citizens live below the official poverty line, among whom the percentage of minority groups, such as Israeli Arabs and orthodox Jews, is extremely high. A large part of the Israeli poor population are defined as "working poor," meaning people who are employed and yet do not earn a minimum living wage, a phenomenon which is usually regarded as a symptom of the crumbling of the middle classes.

A demo against anti-Arab racism

 

 
From: Communist Party of Israel
www.maki.org.il / interelations@maki.org.il
 
A demo against anti-Arab racism will
be held tomorrow at Akko
 
Tomorrow, Tuesday (October, 14) will be held at the Old City of Akko a demonstration against anti-Arab racism called by the Communist Party of Israel and Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality).
 

Professor Ze’ev Sternhell wounded by bomb

 

From Communist Party of Israel
www.maki.org.il / interelations@maki.org.il
 
 
 
Professor Ze’ev Sternhell wounded by bomb

The Communist Party of Israel condemn law enforcement authorities lenient hand with settler groups,
extreme Right is a threat to democracy

Prominent Israeli historian Professor Ze’ev Sternhell was lightly wounded in the early hours of the morning on Thursday after a bomb went off outside his front door on Shai Agnon St. in Jerusalem. The explosion occurred as Sternhell was locking the outer gate of his home at around 1:00 am, he sustained minor injuries to his legs and was evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Hospital for treatment.

Joint Press Release of CP of Greece and CP of Israel

 

CP of Greece, Joint Press Release of ΚΚΕ and CP of Israel – About the Greek-Israeli Military Exercise "Glorious Spartan
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From: Communist Party of Greece, Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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Joint Press Release of CP of Greece and CP of Israel
 
About the Greek-Israeli Military Exercise “Glorious Spartan”
 
 
 
 

The Communist Parties of Greece and Israel protest the joint manoeuvres of Greek and Israeli air forces that took place under code-named "Glorious Spartan 08" on May 28 and June 12 around the Greek island of Crete, using NATO and US facilities around the base of Suda Bay. During mass-scale training exercises, that were kept secret, 130 flights were realized by Greek and another 130 by Israeli fighter jets.