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The Freedom Socialist Party denounces Israel’s horrific military attack on the residents of Gaza. Israel’s massive use of ground troops and
U.S.-supplied tanks and helicopter gunships is nothing but indiscriminate slaughter. The invasion comes after more than a week of vicious aerial bombardments that killed more than 500 and wounded over 2000. And this followed a two-year-long blockade that caused 250 deaths and the misery and malnutrition of thousands more.

FSP deplores Israel’s effort to violently crush all resistance to their
inhumane and illegal occupation of Palestine. Israeli authorities have
turned the Gaza strip into a prison for 1.5 million Palestinians. The
blockade has left residents without basic necessities and now the bombing has destroyed vital infrastructure including transportation, power and water.

There can be no peace as long as the deadly blockade and
invasion continue!

The outrageous actions of the Israeli government have met with
condemnation and opposition throughout the Middle East, Europe, the
Americas and elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of people are
marching in the streets and flooding the internet with demands that their governments condemn Israel’s unwarranted aggression and take action to stop the killing.

FSP members and friends are among protesters calling for an end to anti-Arab racism and violence that is fueled by the lust of United States, Israel and other countries for Middle Eastern oil, land and water. The party also condemns the Bush administration for actively supporting the present siege and genocidal air and ground attacks and president-elect Obama for doing nothing to stop them. This is not the first time that U.S. officials have had Palestinian blood on their hands.

Both Israel and the U.S. attempt to justify their actions by falsely blaming Hamas for breaking the cease-fire. This claim turns reality on its head. Israel and its western allies don’t want a cease-fire with the
democratically-elected Hamas government. They want to overthrow it and install their own puppet regime. They have publicly said as much. In fact, it was Israel that broke the cease-fire agreement by its assassination of six Hamas fighters in Gaza on November 5 and by its refusal to lift the siege as expected under an Egyptian-brokered deal.

There are some people who, even in the face of Israel’s mass atrocities, hesitate to oppose its suppression of Hamas because they disagree with the latter’s ideology and goals. However, the issue at stake now is not Hamas’ Islamic fundamentalism, which the FSP disagrees with, but the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and survival in the face of the overwhelming might of Israeli and U.S. imperialism.

The blatant escalation of Zionist aggression has reenergized the
international movement for Palestinian rights and is creating new
opportunities to organize against the occupation and the U.S aid that
makes it possible. At this time, when millions of people are reeling from
the impact of the world crisis of the capitalist system, there is a growing recognition among working people of the need to unite across borders and nationalities. This international solidarity is our most powerful weapon in fighting back against the war-mongering leaders of Israel and their backers in other countries.

FSP urges everyone to take part in street demonstrations, bring
resolutions to labor organizations, write protests to government officials and give as much support as possible to the residents of Gaza and the Palestinian people who are resisting oppression with their lives.

Go to http://www.endtheoccupation.org

for a listing of actions to be taken to aid the people of Gaza and a continuously updated calendar of protest activities.

Stop the siege and military invasion of Gaza!
U.S. out of the Middle East! End the occupation of Palestine now!
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Freedom Socialist Party

U.S. Section
4710 University Way NE, #100
Seattle, WA 98105
USA

Australian Section
PO Box 266
Brunswick, VIC 3055
Australia
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To subscribe to the Freedom Socialist newspaper, or see the booklist at Red Letter Press, or to find out more about the Freedom Socialist Party, go to www.socialism.com

Posted to IPR by Paulie