Statement of the Israeli Communist Forum, (3.4.2004)
Land Day Marked by Protest
As every year on March 30, Land Day of the Arab population in Israel was marked, for the 28ths time, this year with a demonstration by many thousands of the Arab population in Israel. They protested the policy of murder, occupation, oppression and national discrimination enacted by the government of Israel under the leadership of Prime Minister Sharon. As decided by the Monitoring Committee, the leadership body of the Arab population in Israel, this year the date was marked also by a general strike of the Arab population in Israel, which expressed its sharp protests at the way it is treated by the government. In the central demonstration, which culminated with a mass rally at Arabeh in the Galilee and in further activities, there participated activists and supporters of all the political movements active among the Arab population in Israel. Activists of several organizations carried with them photos of their movement's leaders held in Israeli prison. Also participating (though in relatively small numbers) were Jewish Democratic forces, who expressed their solidarity with the struggle of the Arab population of Israel.
The protest demonstration this year centered upon the criminal assassination by the government of Israel of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yasin. This act, which got the open backing of the United States (and a virtually unanimous condemnation of the rest of the world) constitutes a new landmark in the crime history of the government of Israel, particularly in its systematic murder of Palestinian leaders. It was an additional act of state terrorism, which is bound to cause an increase of bloodshed and will make even more distant the possibility of acting towards any implementation of a peace agreement in the region. To some degree the timing of this action derived also from personal political interests of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is recently under increasing public criticism about the failure of his government in all fields, and also because of corruption scandals of participation in which he is suspected and for which he might be indicted.
We hereby express our strong protest at the government policy and demand to stop forthwith with the policy of "targeted killings" . We warn of the disastrous results from the continuation of this policy, especially considering the recent announcement by the countries leadership of continuing with these policies of murder, threatening specific Palestinian leaders, among them the Palestinian President Yaser Arafat!
We demand to stop the acts of oppression of the Palestinian population of the occupied territories, the besieging and closures, the harassing at roadblocks etc. We warn against taking unilateral steps, under cover of a "disengagement plan", whose purpose is to bring about formal annexation to Israel of parts of the occupied territories.
We reiterate our demand to stop immediately the
construction of the so-called "Separation Fence", which is the source
of considerable additional suffering for the Palestinian population and whose
purpose is to de facto annex large parts of the occupied territories to Israel,
and to divide the Palestinian population in the remaining territories into
enclaves surrounded by Israel army, settlements and by-pass roads, leaving the
population without the most minimal living conditions.
We demand an immediate end to the policy of
discrimination against the Arab population in Israel the confiscation of land, the demolition of houses,
the aerial spraying of fields and the political persecution of various
movements active among the Arab population, as manifested in arrest of their
leaderships.
We demand of the government to take firm steps
against the extreme right people who planned and carried out assassination
attempts against Arab Knesset Members (Isam Makhoul and Muhammad Barake) and
other leaders of the Arab population. The deliberate negligence must be
stopped. The systematic incitement campaign of senior ministers in the
government of Israel against the Arab
population and its political leadership provides the fertile ground for such
fascists and racists as carried out in
the past and might carry out in the future attempts at the lives of the leaders
of the Arab population and also of those of Jewish democratic and peace seeking forces.
The Israeli Communist Forum calls for the
resignation of the Sharon government, the government of occupation, of
oppression, of discrimination and of greed, a government which has caused a worse decline for the
workers, the poor, and the members of the weaker social categories than has
been there ever before. We call for a fundamental change of the policy into
a policy of just peace, equality and
social justice, diverting the billions of shekels now used for the purchase of
new weaponry (F-16I fighter planes), for
settlements and for continuation of the occupation - towards the budgets
for education, health, welfare and culture.
The solution to the conflict in our region can only
be achieved by withdrawal from all
occupied Arab territories, including East Jerusalem; the creation of an
independent state side by side with Israel with the borders of June-'67; and
the solution of the refugee problem according to relevant U.N. resolutions.
We call for extension of the worldwide solidarity with
the Arab Palestinian people, the Arab population and the Jewish democratic
forces in Israel!
