We share the editorial of ¡UNIOS!, the Colombian section of the ISL.
The Zionist-imperialist Israeli State is carrying out a genocidal military campaign against the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip. It has ordered the forced displacement of more than a million inhabitants to the south of the strip, even though the United Nations has stated that such displacement is impossible. For its part, the Egyptian military dictatorship refuses to receive the displaced, and its border is blocked for humanitarian aid such as food, medicine or fuel. It is the reason why protest demonstrations around the world denounce: “It is not a war, it is a genocide!”
This genocide is being sponsored by all the great imperialist powers, led by the US and the European Union. A recent international summit that sought diplomatic mediation culminated in resounding failure and innocuous pacifist speeches, when the imposition of the State of Israel based on the Palestinian genocide is evident; the bombings of the Gaza Strip to date leave more than 7,000 dead.
In the midst of this barbarism, whose main cause is Israel’s colonial aggression for seven decades, they want to equate the military action of the Palestinian resistance with the genocide carried out by the Zionist army. Even the UN Secretary-General himself points out that “it is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation” and that the Palestinians “have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.” That is why the statements by the president of Colombia, in which he compared the Russian aggression against Ukraine with the Israeli occupation of Palestine, were the cause for a diplomatic scandal. These statements were a recognition of the fair struggle of the Palestinian people for their liberation. Even in the face of threats from the Israeli government to suspend military and intelligence supplies to the Colombian government, Petro declared that he was willing to break off relations. But that democratic position was quickly modified and now Petro intends to appear as a “peace mediator” – while the genocide continues – by embracing the Palestinian Ambassador and the criminal Israeli Ambassador.
The trade union organizations of Colombian workers, the social organizations of the popular sectors, and the left-wing parties unconditionally committed to the Palestinian cause, are not neutral in the face of genocide. That is why we must demand that Gustavo Petro’s government and all the parties that are members of the Historical Pact speak out in favor of the immediate severance of all types of relations with the Zionist-imperialist State of Israel. Starting from there, Petro should lead an international campaign of total isolation of Israel, up to its expulsion from the UN. Just as in the past we fought against apartheid in South Africa until we defeated the segregationist white bourgeoisie, today we must isolate Zionism internationally until we defeat it. Along with this demand, we must redouble our efforts to mobilize protest and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Latin America is with Palestine!
Stop the genocide against the Palestinian people!
Where are they that cannot be seen, the sanctions against Israel!
For a single, secular, democratic and socialist Palestine.
Unidad Obrera y Socialista ¡UNÍOS!
Bogotá-Medellín
October 26, 2023