Today we commemorate Palestinian Land Day, in memory of March 30, 1976, when the Palestinian people called a general strike to protest the continued expropriation of their land by Israel. The Zionist army’s response was to assassinate seven young Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who were demonstrating against the confiscation of 21,000 dunums (2,100 hectares) of Palestinian land by Israel in order to build Jewish-only colonies and a military training ground. There is one word that describes stealing land from non-Jews to give it only to Jews within a context of colonization: apartheid.
Forty-four years later, Palestine still suffers death, destruction, racism and apartheid imposed by the Zionist entity. This situation worsened in 2018, when Israel approved the law of the "Jewish Nation-State", which established that only Jewish people would enjoy a "special category" and would have the right to self-determination: political and social rights, etc. From then on, Hebrew became the only official language, thus excluding the Arabic language of the indigenous Palestinian people. The law also offers legal protection to the colonial expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories that are illegally occupied under international law, the UN and the EU.
The approval of this Law, together with the blockade suffered by Gaza for years, made the Palestinian people call the Great March of Return on March 30, 2018. Since then, this protest has been held every Friday and has been suppressed with fire and by the Zionist occupying forces, with hundreds of people killed.
The situation has worsened in recent months with the presentation of the so-called "Deal of the century" last January. An alleged "peace plan," drawn up by Netanyahu and the United States, whose sole purpose is to perpetuate Israel's colonization and occupation of Palestinian territories, and to legalize what is indeed illegal and criminal. It is a plan carried out behind Palestinian people’s back, which sets extremely favorable preconditions for Israel and gives free rein to the annexation of the Jewish colonies in the West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley.
Furthermore, the fight against the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shows, once more, the darkest side of the Zionist entity, protected by the United States. By refusing to lift the blockade Gaza has suffered for thirteen years, it does not allow the entry of medical aid to alleviate the pandemic. Again, Israel denies the humanity of Palestinians and seizes their freedom and self-determination rights with total impunity.
On this very important day in Palestine's struggle to achieve freedom, the Communist Party of Spain:
- Reaffirms its solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people.
- Demands an end to the blockade against Gaza, as well as an end to the illegal colonies.
- Demands the return of Palestinian refugees.
- Demands recognition of the Palestinian State with its capital in Jerusalem.
- Demands that the international community condemn the continuous violations of international law by Israel and implement UN resolutions as important as number 194 of the General Assembly or number 242 of the Security Council.
- Requires the EU to ban the importation from illegal settlements, as well as to warn European companies operating there to immediately cease operations.
- Reaffirms its support for the largest coalition of Palestinian civil society, the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement for the rights of the Palestinian people.
