The present situation in the Palestinian territories of Gaza, Cisjordania and Jerusalem is extremely serious. The brutal repression of the Palestinian people's fair struggle, ensued after the provoking "visit" of Ariel Sharon to the esplanade of the mosques in East Jerusalem, already caused more then a hundred of dead and thousands of wounded people. The vast majority of them are young people, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.
Yesterday, Ehud Barak's government made a new and dangerous step in his terror and repression policy against the Palestinian people, developing widespread military operations in the occupied territories and bombing buildings of the Palestinian Authority, radio, television and various official buildings in Ramallah and other cities in Cisjordania and Gaza. Such acts - which aim at silencing the protests and the struggle of the Palestinian people and imposing their surrender, besides the numerous victims and sufferings that already caused - openly jeopardizes the Oslo Agreements and threaten to destabilize the whole situation in the Middle East.
In presence of such a serious situation, the Portuguese Communist Party expresses the firmest condemnation for the repression and terror's policy led by the Israeli Government and underlines the need of urgent measures, in politic and diplomatic fields, to force Israel to stop immediately the repression and to comply with the resolutions of UN on Palestine and the basic principles of the International Law. It is urgent the summons of the Security Council of the United Nations. It is indispensable that, in the European Council of Biarritz, the European Union expresses a clear position of condemnation of Israel. It is necessary to hold responsible the USA and other great powers for the support and complicity with Israel and to demand the immediately term of such support.
The PCP rejoices at the approval by the Portuguese Parliament of the resolution that clearly condemns Israel and demands to the Israeli government the respect of the international law and of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people.
The PCP considers that the Portuguese government must intervene in the international institutions in which Portugal participates, namely in the United Nations and European Union, in order to force Israel to promptly withdraw from the occupied Arab territories, to release the political prisoners, to assure the exiles' return, to accomplish the resolutions of UN on Palestine.
The PCP wishes to express to OLP and to the Palestinian people the solidarity of the Portuguese Communists to their fair and heroic struggle for the edification of their own independent and sovereign State in territory of Palestine with capital in Jerusalem, and it appeals to the Portuguese people and specially to the Portuguese youth, so that they manifest their solidarity to the people of Palestine.
