MPPM condemns the statement made yesterday, 21 March, by President Donald Trump that “it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights”. The Golan Heights, occupied by Israel 52 years ago, are internationally recognized as part of the territory of Syria, and therefore such a declaration grossly violates international legality, including the United Nations Charter, Article 2 of which states that the use of force against the territorial integrity of any state is inadmissible.
Following the 1967 war in which Israel occupied the Golan Heights, as well as the Egyptian Sinai and the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 22 November 1967 underlined the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” and affirmed the need for “Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict”.
The enemies of the Palestinian people – with Trump, Netanyahu and Bolsonaro at their head – and the powers that for 25 years have bloodied the Middle East with aggressive and destructive wars are on the attack in Latin America.
The facts are multiplying and cannot be ignored by the friends of the Palestinian people: among others, Bolsonaro's close ties to Israel; Netanyahu's presence in Brazil at the time of Bolsonaro's inauguration; the proclaimed intention of the Brazilian government to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem – on the heels of Trump's illegal decision –, while devaluing the official Palestinian presence in Brazil; Israel's support for the coup in Venezuela, triggered by the US proclamation of a “president” who was never voted for by the popular vote; the Israeli military presence in Brazil, under the pretext of humanitarian assistance to the victims of the Brumadinho dam catastrophe and in violation of Brazilian legality.
MPPM – the Portuguese Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East welcomes, and associates itself with, the International Week to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, which takes place from January 15 to 22, 2019.
Ahmad Sa'adat, who is a Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament), was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in December 2008 by an Israeli military court that accused him of leading an «illegal terrorist organization», that is to say, for being a leader of the Palestinian resistance to the Zionist occupation and repression – as General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, elected after the previous General Secretary was assassinated by Israel.
MPPM – the Portuguese Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East – expresses deep concern about the news that the European Union is promoting, on the quiet and in haste, the approval of a document that aims to equate criticism of Zionism and Israel with anti-Semitism. According to news (EUobserver, 29.11.2018), published on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the document could be adopted this week, on December 6, at the meeting of the Ministers of Internal Affairs of the EU countries.
The Portuguese Parliament (Assembly of the Republic) marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People by adopting a Vote of Solidarity. Emanating from an organ of sovereignty of Portugal, it is a document of undeniable political relevance, which should be welcomed by all the friends of the Palestinian cause.
Presented by the Portugal-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, the Vote recalls that the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was established on December 2, 1977 by the United Nations General Assembly.
MPPM – the Portuguese Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East – welcomes the decision taken by the Portuguese Parliament (Assembly of the Republic) on 28 November, in the framework of the discussion of the State Budget for 2019, to increase Portugal's contribution to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East).
MPPM – the Portuguese Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East – warns of the extreme gravity of the situation in the Gaza Strip, following the incursion of an Israeli special troops unit that infiltrated the Palestinian territory on Sunday evening.
The covert and illegal action of the Israeli troops, detected by Palestinian armed elements, triggered a sequence of events of incalculable consequences. The exchange of gunfire between the Israeli unit and the Palestinian forces resulted in the immediate killing of seven Palestinians and an Israeli officer. To protect the withdrawal of its infiltrators, Israeli military carried out dozens of attacks with tank fire and with aircrafts, airplanes and helicopters.
On 26 September the Portuguese Parliament (Assembly of the Republic) adopted a vote condemning the decision of the Israeli authorities to expel the inhabitants of Khan al-Ahmar.
MPPM [Portugal’s Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East] welcomes this Parliamentary Resolution, which adds its voice to the worldwide condemnation of the most recent example of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population carried out by the Zionist State, with the purpose of expanding its colonization and making a Palestinian state impossible.
The Resolution was proposed by the Parliamentary Group of the Portuguese Communist Party, and was adopted with the votes in favor of the PCP, PEV (Green Party), PS (Socialist Party), BE (Left Bloc) and PAN (People, Animals, Nature party). The PSD (Social-Democratic Party) voted against, and CDS-PP (Democratic-Social Center party) abstained.
Palestinians around the world celebrate March 30 as Land Day. On that day, in 1976, Israeli repressive forces killed six Palestinian citizens of Israel who were protesting the expropriation of Palestinian-owned land in northern Israel to build Jewish communities there. About 100 others were injured and hundreds were arrested during the general strike and large demonstrations that took place that day in different Palestinian locations in the territory of the State of Israel. Land Day symbolizes the determination of the Palestinian people to preserve their history, their attachment to their land as an essential element of their identity and their very existence as a people in their homeland.
Giro d'Italia, one of the most prestigious races of international cycling, will start this year in Israel on 4-7 May.
MPPM joins the «International Appeal: Relocating the" Great Start "of Giro d'Italia from Israel» and the international day of protest on 10 March, condemning Israel's whitewashing operation.
The organizers of the Giro d'Italia are thus collaborating in the "celebrations" of the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel. The Israeli authorities themselves do not hide that this is a major political cosmetic operation, of «normalization» of the State of Israel.
But Israel is not a «normal» country, rather it is the only country in the world that does not declare its borders, the country that has violated and continues to violate the UN resolutions, enjoying unacceptable complicity and complacency.
