End Brutal Massacre of Palestinians! DSP Statement

Dear Comrades,

Attached below is a statement on the current situation in Palestine
adopted by the National Committee meeting of the Democratic Socialist
Party of Australia on October 14.

For further information on the views of the DSP visit our web sites:
http://www.dsp.org.au/ and http://www.greenleft.org.au/.

For extensive information from the war zone in Palestine visit the
September 2000 Clashes Information Centre:
http://www.addameer.org/september2000/index.html.

Comradely greetings,

John Percy
National Secretary
Democratic Socialist Party
Australia
intl@dsp.org.au
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End the Brutal Massacre Against the Palestinians!
End the Occupation!

The Democratic Socialist Party condemns the acts of war being carried
out by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.

The current uprising by Palestinians is a product of pent up frustration
with a fundamentally flawed peace process, and decades of occupation,
dispossession, exile and daily humiliation, and the deliberate
provocation by terrorist politician Ariel Sharon.

The one-sided nature of the Israeli violence in their latest massacre of
Palestinians is reflected by the fact that all but five of the 94 people
killed as of October 13 were Palestinians.

The Israeli army is using tanks, assault rifles, bazookas, hand
grenades, snipers and launched rocket attacks from combat helicopters
against the demonstrators. Doctors who are treating the wounded have
noticed that most of the injuries are to the upper parts of people's
bodies, indicating that Israeli snipers are following a shoot to kill
policy.

Ambulance vehicles have been targeted by Israeli snipers and Israeli
soldiers even entered the Augusta Victoria Hospital and began shooting
without warning.

Jewish citizens have stoned and firebombed Palestinian homes within
Israel. When the Israeli army has been called to protect the Palestinian
civilians, it has taken no action to stop the Jewish violence, but
instead fired upon the Palestinians defending their homes.

Many Palestinians hoped that the Oslo Accord would establish a
Palestinian state in a liberated West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East
Jerusalem as its capital. However, this is not written in the
agreements.

Since the Oslo Accord was signed by the Palestine Liberation
Organisation and the Israeli government in 1993, it has become clear
that Israel would retain its control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip
by continuing a system of apartheid-like physical separation. Israel
will retain control over the West Bank's economy, land and natural
resources without having to exercise direct military control over the
bulk of the Palestinian population.

Israel's annexation of three major Jewish settlements in the north,
centre and south of the West Bank divides the West Bank into three
Palestinian enclaves. The Jewish settlements are connected to Israel
with highways which only Israelis are allowed to travel on.

In order to travel between parts of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and
the Gaza Strip, Palestinians have to pass Israeli checkpoints and cross
these highways. This means that the Israeli government can seal off
Palestinian areas at any time.

After annexation of the Israeli settlements, the Palestinians would be
left with just 65% of the West Bank.

The Israeli government is attempting to ethnically cleanse East
Jerusalem of Palestinians with the widespread confiscation of identity
cards, and the refusal of building permits to Palestinians.

Although Israeli settlers are only a small fraction of the population in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, they control 60% of the land. For example,
in Gaza, a mere 6000 Jewish settlers control 42% of the land, as against
1 million Palestinians.

Under the Accord, Israel would have the final say on all critical
issues. For example: Israel would retain the right to enter any area if
it deems its security to be at risk; any law passed by the Palestinian
Authority could be vetoed by Israel; export and import of any goods
could be vetoed by Israel; and, Israel could not be held legally
responsible for any act during the last 30 years of occupation.

With Israel controlling the vast majority of aquifers in the West Bank,
the Palestinian population relies on Israel for its water supply. Israel
would continue to control all of the resources under the ground and in
the airspace of the West Bank, as well as all borders.

Because Israel was created by expelling more than 800,000 Palestinians
from their homes, the right of return for the refugees is central to the
conflict. There are currently more than 6 million Palestinian refugees
(including children of the refugees) scattered around makeshift refugee
camps in Arab countries.

Most of these refugees still aspire to return to their villages. This
desire was evident from the touching scenes at the Lebanon-Israeli
border earlier this year when Palestinian refugees from camps in Lebanon
made their first contact in over 50 years with relatives living in
Israel.

Denial of the right of refugees to return is especially galling when any
Jew from any part of the world is automatically guaranteed the right to
live in Israel. The Israeli government has ruled out allowing refugees
to return.

For Palestinians living in Israel, the religious nature of the Israeli
state means that Jews have privileges which are denied to non-Jews. For
example, between 1948 and 1967, 90% of Arab lands in Israel were
confiscated from their owners and given to Jews. Only Jews are allowed
to own or lease land. Palestinians are also denied welfare benefits
which accrue from military service, from which they are excluded.
Palestinians are second-class citizens.

An immediate end to the attacks!

While the creation of a democratic, secular state, over all of historic
Palestine, for Jews, Muslims, Christians and others is the only
long-term solution to the conflict, the Democratic Socialist Party
believes that some immediate actions must be taken to end the violence:

1) Israeli troops should be withdrawn immediately from the West Bank,
Gaza and East Jerusalem.

2) A United Nations international inquiry into the deaths of Palestinian
civilians needs to be carried out immediately.

3) The Israeli government should charge the Israeli citizens who have
initiated the recent pogroms against Palestinians living in Israel.

4) An immediate halt to the Israeli state's expropriation of Palestinian
land and expansion of Israeli settlements. A plan to dismantle the
settlements must be set in place. There can be no peace until the
Israeli settlements are dismantled.

5) Australian Liberal and Labor governments have a long history of
giving strong diplomatic support to the Zionist regime in Israel. The
Democratic Socialist Party calls on the Australian government to:
condemn the acts of war being carried out by the Israeli state against
the Palestinians; to demand the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops
from the West Bank and Gaza; and to demand that the US cancel all
military aid to Israel.

The Democratic Socialist Party extends its full solidarity to the
Palestinian people in this latest stage in their decades-long struggle
for justice and freedom.
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