The Caribbean Pan-African Network (CPAN), the Network for Defense of Humanity, Caribbean Chapter, Organization for the Victory of the People (Guyana), The People’s Empowerment Party (Barbados) and the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration condemn what can only be described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the settler-colonial, Zionist and racist entity known as Israel.
The occupation of Palestine by those who subscribe to the racist ideology of Zionism, and the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland is illegal and constitutes a crime against humanity. The current situation is part of an ongoing campaign of dispossession, terror and murder of Palestinians that began in 1948, and is referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba, which means disaster or catastrophe. Only 150 miles long, Gaza is the most densely populated territory in the world, with a population of 2 million. It can literally be described as an open air prison or concentration camp, since the residents cannot leave and therefore cannot escape the lethal bombardment by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
It has been reported today that a teenager, suffering from severe trauma, committed suicide in Gaza. He watched as his younger brother was killed while playing football in an airstrike during the 2008 Israeli war on Gaza. His older brother was killed in the 2012 war on Gaza and he lost his father in the 2014 war. His mother was killed yesterday in a bombing raid by the same Zionist war machine that killed the rest of his family. This current attack is the continuation of an ongoing war, as illustrated by the tragic story of this teenager and his family, a story that epitomizes the story of all those who reside in Gaza. The children of Gaza are traumatized – those men, women and children that are not being murdered, and are not having their homes and businesses demolished, are literally starving, without access to food and water.
Enough is enough. We are calling on CARICOM to unequivocally condemn this crime against humanity, and to call for a region wide trade and cultural boycott of Israel. We call on any Caribbean nations that have relations with the State of Israel to halt all ties and trade immediately. We are calling on the US and West European powers to stop their attempt to perpetuate the false narrative that refers to this as “a conflict” with two sides that are equally to blame. One side, the Israelis, are occupiers, who have established a settler-colonial state and have one of the most sophisticated and heavily armed forces in the world, possessing an arsenal of nuclear weapons, while the Palestinians are a displaced people, refugees in their own land, the victims of this illegal and brutal occupation. They have no state, no army, no control over airways or ports, and are defending themselves against the Israeli onslaught, with an array of medium and long range missiles. If there was ever a David and Goliath scenario – this is it.
We call on the US, Britain and the EU to reign in their ally, Israel, which is only able to survive and persecute the Palestinians because of the ongoing support of these imperial powers. The world is watching, and as you witnessed during the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations, the youth of this world are united and more determined than ever in their resistance to tyranny. The people of the world, despite the cowardice and hypocrisy of so many of our governments, who are afraid to stand up to Israel and their imperialist backers, will not rest this time until the Palestinians are free from this inhumane occupation. It is time for action.
18 May 2021