The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) has released a statement marking the 73rd Anniversary of the Nakba denouncing the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the ongoing horrific violence against Palestinians.
The YCL is Britain’s affiliate to WFDY, one of over 180 progressive and anti-imperialist youth organisations from more than 100 countries that are members. WFDY organises campaigns as well as solidarity brigades in support of peace, self-determination for all people and social and economic progress.
This 15th of May, like every 15th of May since 1948, marks Nakba Day. Although it is a date that is always surrounded by the harsh reality of the Palestinian people, this 73rd anniversary takes place in a particularly severe scenario. Palestine has been attacked several days by the Israeli Occupation, causing at least 119 deaths (including 31 children) and almost 850 people wounded.
The World Federation of Democratic Youth denounces the always drastic situation suffered by the Palestinian youth and people, who this year face the Nakba day in an even more brutal reality.
The Zionist occupation, as well as its attacks against the Palestinian people, must stop immediately. We denounce the complicity of the imperialist forces such as the USA, the European Union, and NATO in the attacks of their great ally in the Middle East and the international silence surrounding this new offensive against Palestine.
The World Federation of Democratic Youth condemns the aggression in Palestine, especially the recent Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhoods battling the threat of forced displacement, which is part of Israel’s larger ethnic cleansing plan in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Zionist government is forcibly displacing Palestinian families from their own homes and land to Judaize the area by building illegal Zionist settlements.
Two primary settler organisations leading these forced displacements, Nahalat Shimon International and Ateret Cohanim, are registered as tax-deductible charities in the United States, from which they receive the majority of their funding. Palestinians are also facing violent and vicious attacks from terrorist-armed Zionist mobs daily. These attacks mainly take place in the so-called “mixed cities” and are directed towards holy places, Arab properties, and Arab-owned olive groves.
In addition, these gangs are fully supported and protected by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Furthermore, with the help of these terrorist settlers’ mobs, IOF has been brutally suppressing demonstrations calling to end the vicious attacks on Palestinians everywhere, mainly in Gaza and Al-Shiekh Jarrah. The anger and the popular resurgence extend to the various towns of Galilee, to Jaffa, Lyd, and Haifa. Clashes break out with the police repression forces attacking the demonstrators and protecting extremists and settlers while they attack the Arab demonstrators using various weapons.
The Nakba has been going on for more than 73 years. The ongoing demonstrations against the occupation and aggression in Gaza are proof and confirmation that young people have not forgotten the Nakba and are still living it daily through the details of their daily life of clear discrimination and an attempt to suppress every voice against the occupation, and endeavours to obliterate the cultural and political identity of young people through a policy of intimidation.
We condemn the Zionist occupation of Palestine, driven by the Israeli aggression, the tool of Imperialism, which is today worse than ever, as well as the policy of extermination of the Palestinians through occupation, settlements, forced evictions, and the isolation of Palestinian, economic barriers, the apartheid wall, and the continued imprisonment of the thousands of Palestinians. The situation has surpassed any previous one, as attacks and murders have become parts of “everyday life” for the Palestinians: the so-called “Deal of the Century”, the annexation plan of the West Bank territories, the situation of the Palestinian prisoners, and so on.
In the face of the Zionist occupation and the continued aggression against the Palestinian youth and people, we want to express our solidarity, not only today but every day. We want to highlight our special solidarity with the repressed Palestinian people, prisoners, refugees, and in general with the victims of all forms of Zionist brutality. We reaffirm the support to the Palestinian people and the right to return to their homeland. We support the right of self-determination and liberation, releasing prisoners and detainees in jails and lifting the siege entirely from Gaza and the occupied areas.
We reiterate our demands on the Palestinian struggle adopted at the 20th General Assembly of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.
Long live the Palestinian cause and struggle!
Free Palestine!
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