No words can express the horror and suffering that Israeli Zionism and US imperialism are inflicting on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and also in the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with the criminal complicity of the European Union. Day after day, the mainstream media show images of boundless violence and cruelty and a sinister accounting of the deliberate murder of populations, including the infamous imposition of starvation that is hitting babies and other children particularly hard.
In view of this situation, the PCP once again raises its strongest protest and indignation at the subservience of the Portuguese government, in flagrant confrontation with the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, to the policies and dictates of the US, the EU and NATO - those largely responsible for the impunity of Israel's crimes and its terrorist policy.
By conditioning its position on the decisions of the major imperialist powers of the EU, the government not only shamelessly refuses to condemn the genocide of the Palestinian people, it continues to refuse to recognise the State of Palestine and, instead of assuming the imperative political and humanitarian duty of demanding the suspension of the EU's association agreement with Israel, it goes so far as to prevent a reference in a CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries) communiqué to the dramatic problem of hunger in Gaza.
The extreme gravity of Israel's crimes and its systematic disregard for international law demand the strongest and most unequivocal condemnation, and the unspeakable suffering of the Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle for an independent and sovereign state demand an intensification of international solidarity.
Valuing the important solidarity actions that have taken place in Portugal, the PCP will persist in its fight for the Portuguese State to assume its constitutional responsibilities, and calls on the Portuguese people, particularly the workers and youth, to raise even louder their voice of solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just national cause.
