People's Democracy

YECHURY TO ATTEND THE JERUSALEM INITIATIVE FOR PEACE

International Solidarity For The Struggle To End Israeli Occupation

MARKING the 40th anniversary of the occupation of Palestinian territories and the 60th anniversary of the issuing of the UN General Assembly resolution calling for establishment of two States, both Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) and the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) are jointly conducting various programmes in the first and second weeks of June this year. They have called upon all peace loving people, parties and organisations in the world to declare the week between June 2 and 10 as the ‘International Week for the Struggle to End the Israeli Occupation & to Establish a Just and Lasting Peace between Israel and Palestine’.

As part of these activities, the two parties have convened an international meeting in Jerusalem during June 2 - 4 , 2007 with the theme ‘The Jerusalem Initiative for Peace on the basis of two States: Israel and Palestine’. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and MP, Sitaram Yechury, will be participating in this meeting on behalf of the Party. Before this he would also be attending the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of Israel being held in Haifa and Nazareth, Israel from May 31 – June 02, 2007.

During this international meeting, the delegates would have a meeting with the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas; see first-hand the Separation Wall; visit the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah; meet with Israeli peace activists and a public meeting with the participation of leading figures from Palestine, Israel and other nations.

The solidarity programmes being held during this period through out the world seek to highlight these two anniversaries and also aim to build pressure to bring the Israeli occupation to an end and to pave the way for the establishment of a just and durable peace between the two states: Israel and Palestine.

PROPOSED STATEMENT

The PPP and CPI have proposed that the International Meeting in Jerusalem adopt the following statement:

WE, the participants at the international meeting in Jerusalem, express our solidarity with the Palestinian people and with all peace loving, anti-occupation and anti-settlements forces, in their struggle for a just Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the June 4, 1967 borders and international legitimacy resolutions.

We demand that Israel, the USA and all States unjustly besieging Palestine lift their siege immediately. This siege exacerbates the deteriorating conditions of the Palestinian people, causes catastrophic effects on the Palestinian economy, deprives Palestinians of food and medicine, causes mass unemployment and poverty and prevents any economic or social development, eventually destroying the prospect of building an independent Palestinian state.

We demand from all governments in the world to recognise the Palestinian national unity government, maintain normal relations with it and allow it to function to serve the interests of the Palestinian people.

We reject the plan to establish a Palestinian State within temporary borders and consider that as another destructive effort to postpone the final agreement that would put an end to the Israeli occupation which has continued since June 1967. The Arab Peace Initiative, which has been adopted by all Arab States, if implemented as it stands, comprises the basic elements of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and between Israel and all the Arab states. We, participants at the international meeting in Jerusalem, will continue to make every effort to convince the government of Israel to negotiate with the PLO in order to achieve a comprehensive and just peace agreement according to the following principles:

• ending the Israeli occupation;

• the complete dismantling of all settlements;

• removing the Separation Wall, establishing the June 4, 1967 boundaries as peaceful border between the State of Israel and the Palestinian State;

• the co-existence of the capitals of Israel and Palestine in Jerusalem; and

• a solution to the refugee problem in compliance with UN resolutions.

This peace plan has been the historical plan of both the CPI and PPP for decades. This plan has also been accepted by the UN, the Arab League and the international community and represents the hope for ending the bloodshed and the beginning of an era of lasting peace. It is a plan which has not been put into action so far, in spite of the fact that the principle of a two State solution was introduced by the UN General Assembly 60 years ago.

The two parties have expressed willingness to receive any remarks on this draft at the following e-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]