The Telaviv authorities gave yet another clear testimony that they are real outlaws. As if decades of occupation of the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank were not enough, together with the indiscriminate assassination of a whole people, they now add this act of piracy, in international waters, against a convoy carrying hundreds of civilians, whose sole purpose was that of taking to the people of Gaza the humanitarian aid which Israel denies them.

Actually, Israel has been blockading this territory for the last 3 years, having, in December 2008, unleashed a brutal invasion, whose horrors we still retain in our memory. Everyday, in Gaza, dozens of children and old people die, due to lack of medicine, drinking water and food, which the military blockade prevents from entering.

The United Nations Security Council has just condemned this “bloodshed”, in the words of the UN Secretary-General. In fact, the international community can no longer passively witness, and even less act in connivance with state terrorism, carried out by the Israeli government.

It is time to say: enough! To say enough of its hideous crimes against humanity. To say enough of its occupation of Palestine, the Syrian Golan Heights or South Lebanese territories. To say enough of its repeated violations of UN Resolutions concerning these conflicts.

The CGTP-IN considers it necessary to expose those who “regretting the loss of human lives”, regarding this massacre and so many more previously perpetrated by Israel, maintain their military, diplomatic and economic aid to a regime, which permanently places itself outside the international law. In the first line of supporters we find the United States of America, and its major NATO and European Union allies.

The CGTP-IN demands from the Portuguese government the firm condemnation of this shameful military operation and that it acts, in the international arena, in consonance with the seriousness of this brutal massacre and the repeated violations of international law by the state of Israel. 

The CGTP-IN will continue to expose, at national, European and world level, notably amidst the trade union movement, the continued Telaviv violations and aggressions and to express its active solidarity with the peoples who, in Palestine and in the whole Middle East, are the victims of Israel’s occupations, aggressions, interferences and blockades. 

The CGTP-IN wishes, yet again, to declare its profound solidarity with the Palestinian workers and trade union movement, namely to its representative trade union Centres, the GUPW and the PGFTU. 

We also call on the Portuguese workers, trade unions and people to actively participate in actions of protest and exposure that will be held in our country, notably tomorrow, 2 June, at 6.00 pm, in front of the Israeli Embassy in Lisbon.


The CGTP-IN Executive Committee

Lisbon, 1 de June 2010