Statement of the WPC about the developments in Palestine

            The World Peace Council expresses its deep concern about the circle of bloodshed in Palestine and Israel which has led already to the loss of lives of hundreds of civilians on both sides along with thousands of injuries. As WPC we state clearly that the root cause for this escalation is and remains the decades’ long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands, the policies of settlements, land robbing, the separation wall in the West Bank and the daily humiliation, harassment and killings of Palestinians by the regime of occupation, the thousands of Palestinian prisoners, the road blocks, the discrimination and deprivation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to their own state.

It would not be wise to expect that the accumulated injustice and occupation would not trigger and produce reactions of the Palestinian people who have the legitimate right to resist the occupation, as it is clearly stated in the International Law. The current Israeli government, in continuation of all previous ones, has escalated further the provocations in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem and the live of millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is more of an “open air” prison.

The decision to end the current hostilities lies with the Israeli government, which tries to take advantage of the situation by heavy bombardment of the Palestinian Gaza Strip while heavy and severe responsibilities belong to the USA, the EU and their allies in the region and the world, who not only support and endorse the ongoing occupation and all its actions but also speak today hypocritically about the “right for self-defense of Israel”, neglecting provocatively any such right to the Palestinian people.

The government of Israel is actually hostile also to its own people (Jews and Arabs) by the ongoing occupation of Palestine; the current escalation proves that the denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people does not allow peace and stability in the whole region and especially these hours where the danger for a regional war exists.

The WPC reiterates and underlines its demand for the end of the occupation of all Palestinian lands by Israel, the establishment of an independent State of Palestine within the borders of pre-4^th June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We demand the release of all Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli jails and the right to return of all the Palestinian refugees according to the UN resolution 194. Occupation and Injustice cannot last forever!

The WPC Secretariat   8^th October 2023