Gaza: Stop the killing of demonstrators, lift the blockade immediately

[Translation updated 17.42 01/06/10.]

[31/5/10: This is a translation and slight edit of an initial response to the killing of protestors on the international aid ship, posted on the website of the sister party of the Socialist Party in Israel, the Socialist Struggle Movement, (the Committee for a Workers' International in Israel) at http://maavak.org.il/maavak/?article=664 . It was posted on 31/05/2010.]

The Socialist Struggle Movement in Israel brings here an initial response following the killing of protesters during the IDF takeover of the international aid convoy last night. We call on everyone to participate in demonstrations and protests to be held tonight at the weekend.

Close to 20 protesters were killed and others wounded last night during a violent, right-wing government initiated raid against the protestors on the international aid flotilla on Monday, [bringing aid to the besieged Gaza Strip]. Like previous protests, the demonstrators did not endanger in any way the security of Israeli residents. This time, helicopters, missile boats and commando forces were sent, and 200 officials from the immigration authority were waiting for the protesters at the Ashdod port, expecting to deport the protesters.

The government cynically disclaims responsibility for the deaths. But there is no need for a "state commission of inquiry" to understand that the responsibility for the killing sits on the shoulders of the government ministers and top officers.

While there is an Israeli media blackout on many details, we are presented by the enlisted press with a simplistic picture, according to which the IDF soldiers were attacked on one of the boats with various 'objects'.

The IDF soldiers should not have been there, to begin with, and, in reality, they were used to for the political goal of preventing protest, which is actually outside the official territory of Israel.

There should be an emphatic rejection of the use - which is common in Israel - of the military and other "arms of security" to trample of the right to protest.

The Israeli ministers, generals, and their kept journalists, attempt to divert attention from the aggressive, destructive and oppressive policy that the Netanyahu-Barak-Liberman government executes, including the siege and occupation, as well as the wild and racist incitement against the Arab-Palestinians in Israel.

The Israeli government, which is warmongering and oppresses the Palestinians, also harms the long-term interests of the residents of Israel.

The only way out of such events and of the atrocities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is through the building of a wide and united social movement of Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, against the 'divide and rule' policies of the Israeli ruling class, against the siege and occupation, against all kinds of oppression and discrimination, for equal national democratic rights for all, and for the toppling of the corrupt capitalist elites in Israel and throughout the region.

The Socialist Struggle Movement supports the widening of the protests and will participate in the demonstrations in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, and the further demonstrations that are expected in the weekend.