The Joint Statement of The International Extraordinary Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties for Solidarity with Palestine, and Arab Issues Held in Damascus September,2009
The communist and workers parties signatories to this statement, having met in Damascus on September 28-30, 2009 in compliance with the resolution of the working group issued in the Athens meeting on February 17,2009, calling to hold an extraordinary meeting of the communist and workers parties in Damascus in solidarity with the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people and the other peoples in the Middle East as regards the dangerously explosive situation resulting from the criminal wars launched by Israel with support of other imperialist powers against the Palestinian people; having considered the very dangerous situation in the Middle East and the obstruction of the road to reach a political settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict due to the Israeli and Zionist policies supported by imperialism which intensifies with the development of the capitalist crisis and the unequivocal and unmasked Israeli refusal to the resolutions of the international legitimacy, specially resolutions 242 and 194, which demand that Israel withdraw completely from all the Arab territories occupied in 1967 (Palestine, the Golan and South Lebanon), and to recognize the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of the Palestinian refugees to their villages of origin, realized that Israeli policies which are based on usurpation and contradict the international legitimacy became more extremest after Netanyahu‘s government which raised the slogan of a pure Jewish state in Israel was formed. Such slogans mean the expulsion of about 1.5 millions of Palestinians from their homeland because of their Arab belonging.
Now that the peace process has become, day by day, more paralysed on all the tracks-the Palestinian track, the Syrian track and the Lebanese track, inspite of the flexibility and concessions made by some Arab regimes, the latest of which was the Arab peace initiative, passed by the Arab summit in Beirut 2002, the situation in the Middle East becomes increasingly explosive, due to Israel’s attempts to impose partial solutions irrelevant to the resolutions of international legitimacy in word and spirit and to the ongoing Israeli policy of occupation and state terrorism, the imperialist aggressiveness of Israeli, USA and the inter-imperialist contradictions for the control in the region. There is an endless threat of wars and aggressions on Arab territories. The latest example of which was the barbaric attack on Gaza early this year which was condemned by all the powers of freedom and peace in the world. It followed the brutal aggression on South Lebanon in July 2006.
The participants in this meeting believe that the driving force of this Israeli behavior is the unlimited support of the USA and European countries, EU members - militarily, politically and economically to Israel. Thus the USA along with the EU signed an agreement upgrading its relations with Israel while the barbarous attack of the Israeli army against Gaza was in progress. Without such a support it would have been impossible for Israel to keep on adopting such policies.
The United States and European countries whole-heartedly support Israeli disrespect to the resolutions of international legitimacy they exert unacceptable pressures on the Palestinians to concede their rights, and simultaneously exert greater pressure on the Arab States to normalize their relations with Israel before the latter offers any serious and tangible concession as regards the inalienable Arab rights. Further, it pressures Syria to give up its right and justful demand to retain the occpied Golan Heights and uses its occupation forces in Iraq as a means to pressure Syria and other countries in the region.
We, the signatories to this joint statement, believe that the essence of the American position has to do with the excessive importance of the Middle East for the world capitalist economy and particularly, the American economy. The United States plans to control this region as a means of controlling the oil fields and stratgic sites necessary for controlling the world. Such a strategy is fixed and more than fifty years old.
To achieve this purpose, the United States launched its aggressive war to occupy Iraq and managed to have resolution 1559 passed to interfere in Lebanon. Farther, it has been trying to provoke strife and civil wars inside the Arab states, and among them ethnic, religious and national lines for the purpose of fragmenting the Arab states and spreading “constructive chaos” in order to build a new Middle East which enables the United States and Israel to control the recourses of the region. The Obama administration has never given any sign that remarkable and serious change might take place in this strategy. Therefore, being aware of our high sense of responsibility for the destinies of the people of this region which aspire to national liberation, complete independence, economic and social development; and democratizing their political regimes; and depending on the belief that the Israeli policy supported by the United States, and with the complicity of European Union powers, constitutes a serious threat to peace and stability in the world, the representatives of the communist and workers parties meeting in Damascus on September 28-30,2009 emphasize the following principles and bases to reach a just and comprehensive solution to the Middle East crisis in such a way that removes the threat of war and helps the peoples realize their aspirations to national independence and to march on the road to economic, social and cultural development which are basic conditions for the development of the popular and class struggle for social justice, progress and socialism.
1 – A complete Israeli withdrawal from the Arab territories occupied in on June 5.1967 – the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem the Golan Heights and South Lebanon, according to the resolutions of the international legitimacy and the complete withdrawal of the American troops from Iraq, and insure the unity and stability of the country and the reassertion of the impressibility of acquiring the territory of others by force.
2 – Recognize the rights of the Palestinian people to return to its homeland, to self- determination and to establish a national independent state, and the right of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people to declare, unilaterally, the establishment of a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital. They demand that United Nations, the Security Council and all countries in the world recognize this state.
3 - Refuse the Israeli annexation of the Syrian occupied Golan Heights, and consider it an integral part of its mother homeland- Syria.
4 – To dismantle the Israeli settlements built in the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, and to stop stealing Arab water.
5 – To dismantle the racial separation wall in conformity with the resolution of the International Court of Justice, to give the confiscated land to its owners and to compensate those owners for physical as well as moral losses.
6 – To annul all the procedures taken to Judaize East Jerusalem, to restitute things to pre-occupation state, because East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Arab territories occupied in June 1967, to put an end to plans aiming to isolate and besiege it, stop the campaign of demolishing of Arab houses or seizing them, and to stop the attacks on Arab Islamic and Christian holy sites, particularly, the attacks lunched against al-Aqsa Mosque.
7 – To release Palestinian and Arab prisoners detained in occupation jails including Palestinainprisoners from areas occupied in 1948. There are about 11 thousand prisoners, besides the Syrian prisoners from the Golan Heights.
8 – To implement the United Nations resolution 194 of 1948 which resolves that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their villages of origin and their property they deserted in 1948, and to demand that the international community-represented by the United Nations, designate a plan and a mechanism ensuring the return of those refugees, providing them with houses, integrating them within the society and compensate them for material and moral losses they suffered during the Nakba years, in compliance with United Nations resolutions.
9 - To support Syria in its struggle against the unequivocal threats of the leaders of American occupation armies in Iraq, as well as, the other political and economic threats, besides the frequent attempts to prevent it from doing its patriotic and national duties to retain its occupied territory and support Arab resistance to defend its self and liberate their territories.
10 – To remove all foreign military bases, all fleets and weapons of mass destruction including the Israeli nuclear arsenal, from the region make all the states in the region, including Israel, sign the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction treaties, open the Israeli nuclear reactors for inspection by representatives of the International Nuclear Engergy Agency, in compliance with the United Nations relevent resolutions.
11 – To refuse all the attempts of U.S.A and Israel to grant the U.N. forces in Lebanon new mandatory powers which serve Israeli plans to strike the resistance, and to emphasize the refusal of NATO intervention in the affairs of Lebanon and the region.
12- The immediate withdrawal of the imperialist occupation forces from Iraq in order for the people to decide on their own for their future.
13- To struggle against the threats of a military attack or economic sanctions against Iran.
The communist and workers parties‘ signatories to this statement realize that due to Israel‘s negligence of these bases, principles and the resolutions of international legitimacy Arab people have all moral and human rights for all forms of resistance against occupation and usurpation. On this occasion, our parties would like to express their appreciation, respect and support for the Palestinian resistance, the national Lebanese resistance and the national Iraqi resistance against the American occupation. They call upon the world public opinion to provide the support and aid necessary for the resistance movements which scored many victories against occupation.
In addition, the communist and workers parties appeal to the Arab national liberation forces to unite their efforts and forces in the confrontation with imperialism and Zionism, particularly to put an end to the split among the Palestinian factions and rally around the Palestine Liberation Organisation and its plan calling for the removal of occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The Arab national liberation movement enjoys great resources and capacities which enable it to: achieve a comprehensive rise leading to a wide-ranged struggle solidarity; to exploit its large economic capacities for the benefits of the peoples of the Arab nation; to escape from grip of economic, social and cultural backwardness; to spread the spirits of enlightenment and secularism; to democratize the political life and to strengthen the role of the communists and all anti-imperialist forces in the Arab national liberation movements.
The participation in the meeting expressed their solidarity with socialist Cuba and condemned the USA blockade, the common position of the EU, and expressed their support to the campaign for the release of the 5 Cuban citizens. Furthermore they condemned the coup in Honduras.
They also call for a just and viable solution of the Cyprus problem leading to the end of occupation of some of its territory and the presence of foreign military bases and the reunification of Cyprus in the framework of a bicommunal and bizonal federation with one citizenship and one international representation.
The participants condemned the policy of Israel, the policy of the USA and the other imperialist forces such as the EU that support or tolerate the aggressiveness of Israel and promote their interests for the control of the energy resources and the production resources of the region in general.
They call for the strengthening of the front against these forces –including social democracy- that promote, support or agree with the plan for the “Big Middle East” They call for the strengthening of the front against those who equate the victim with the victimizer under pretext of taking equal distances between the two parties.
The communist and workers parties, the class-oriented trade unions and the militant mass organizations in general must intensify the class-oriented struggle against the capitalist crisis, against the efforts to place the burden of the crisis on peoples shoulders, for a mass movement against unemployment, for the right to stable, full-time work, and for salary, labor, social insurance, rights that satisfy the people’s contemporary needs.
The communist and workers parties, meeting in Damascus, call upon all the communist, workers parties, mass class organizations peace and solidarity anti-imperialist movements all over the world to increase their practical initiatives in solidarity with the Palestinian people and the peoples of the Arab nation.
They declared the necessity to elaborate the program of activities in this field, based on the proposals expressed by the participants.
The participants highly appreciate the efforts exerted by the Syrian Communist Party (SCP) to prepare and host this meeting and make it a real success. They also would like to thank the Syrian Arab Republic for the facilities it made.
29/10/2009