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This Tuesday, May 18th, MPPM – the Portuguese Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East – promoted, at Casa do Alentejo, in Lisbon, a Meeting to mark the 73 years of the Nakba.

Israel's brutal offensive in recent weeks against the Palestinian population in Jerusalem has made it clear that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine is an ongoing process.

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was self-proclaimed over the ruins of more than 500 Palestinian towns and villages, over some 15,000 Palestinian dead and over the theft of the property of the more than 750,000 Palestinians forced from their homes and land.

In 1967, Israel occupied all of historic Palestine, imposing a racist, colonial and apartheid regime on the Palestinians.

Against the perpetuation of this injustice, the Palestinian people resist, every day, in Sheik Jarrah, in Hebron or in Gaza.

We are witnessing scenes of barbarism in the martyred land of Palestine, of unacceptable violence, that must be stopped and that are the entire responsibility of Israel and its protectors.

Israel's bombing of the besieged population of the Gaza Strip has already caused nearly a hundred and fifty deaths – including 40 children – and close to a thousand wounded. Residential apartment towers are demolished, leaving numerous families homeless.

In Israel, Palestinians are lynched, their shops destroyed and their homes invaded by bands of Israeli extremists in pogroms broadcast live on Israeli public television. The danger of an escalation of violence is very real.

This violence is not «the responsibility of the two parties». It has undeniable proximate causes:

MPPM joined the May Day parade organized by CGTP-IN — General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers, in Lisbon, between Campo Pequeno and Alameda.

We demanded a Free and Independent Palestine and Peace for the Middle East.

Palestine and the Middle East were also present in the speech of the General Secretary of CGTP-IN at the end of the parade:

“We salute the people of Palestine, occupied and humiliated by Israel under the patronage of the United States of America!
“[Palestine will win! Palestine will win!]
“We salute the peoples of Syria and the entire Middle East, a land plagued by the greed of profit and by those who show no mercy to impose their will!”
 

Today we celebrate the 47th anniversary of the April Revolution*. We celebrate the end of the long fascist night and the return to the Portuguese people of their freedom and fundamental rights. We also celebrate the end of isolation and the return with dignity to the companionship of nations.

The Constitution of the Republic, enacted 45 years ago, enshrines the essential values – freedom, democracy, social justice, national independence, peace, solidarity –, the rights acquired and also the commitments made, namely in international relations.

If, with regard to the recovery of individual and collective rights, despite advances and setbacks, there has been undeniable progress, in what concerns international relations, Portugal is taking a long time to accomplish the goals of the April Revolution.

It was April's wish, enshrined in the Constitution, that Portugal should be governed by respect “for human rights, for the rights of peoples”.