A statement issued by the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC)
Life for Palestine and Freedom for our People
The Zionist occupation, led by a government of settlers, continues to commit war crimes against our people. They commit crime after crime, massacre after massacre. The rights of women and children, the elderly and families, are violated and their right to their land and to enjoy the sea lapping at their feet stripped from them: They use the most powerful means of killing: aircraft, tanks and advanced missiles.
The number of martyrs is approaching 200, half of them women and children; and more than a thousand have been injured. And still the Occupation Army continues to kill, attacking the besieged Gaza Strip and destroying the homes of families making them homeless while they are mourning their dead. They destroy their homes over their heads and destroy institutions providing care for those with disabilities.
In the West Bank, and in the heart of Jerusalem, they are continuing their campaign of oppression, murder and torture against our people. Invading their homes, institutions and arresting. Now they have taken their Zionist crimes to a new level by kidnapping the a child, Mohammed Abu Khudair, burning him alive. And still the number of martyrs, wounded, prisoners and displaced persons is on the rise.
All this is happening with the support of the Governments of Western imperialism. These Governments see freedom, independence and liberation of our people and our land as a threat to their interests in the region. The crimes of the Occupation are allowed to continue, all with the suspicious silence of the Arab regimes.
We in the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) are engaged in a battle of steadfastness and confrontation. We continue to denounce the crimes committed against our people and our land, and condemn Western support and political cover that is provided for the crimes of the occupation, whether that support is clear and direct or veiled. We affirm the right of our people’s resistance to settler colonialism in Palestine and insist on the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the homes from which they were displaced. In addition, the right of self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty with Jerusalem as its capital.
We are the reality of pain and suffering, and the manifestation of steadfastness and determination. As our inevitable victory approaches we call the international community to assume its responsibilities towards our people, through the mechanisms of a clear vindication of our rights to our land. We also demand a provisional international protection force for our people and the accountability of the Zionist war criminals.
It is time for the international community to stop falsely claiming there is a “peace process,” which has in reality only benefited the Occupation, allowing it to strengthen its control over our land and institute racist policies through a system of apartheid, which is the ugliest in the history of mankind.
We applaud the resistance of our people in all its forms and spectra, and we salute the young men and women rebelling in the fields in all parts of Palestine. We also salute the Arab peoples and all people around the world that have shown solidarity with us.
- We also call for the implementation of the following:
- We demand that the Palestinian leadership to tackle the task of unity of our people, protecting our cause. A leadership that is working to develop a national strategy for the struggle, and thus ending the negotiations and security coordination with the occupation, which is a dagger in the side of our people and their struggle.
- We call on the masses of our people for increased participation in the struggle and direct confrontation with the Occupation. We call upon it to achieve victory for our people and our cause and to fulfill the wishes of our martyrs, our wounded, our prisoners, our bereaved, our orphans and the homeless of our people.
- We call upon Palestinian women to provide more even more initiative and direction for national events and to increase their militancy, as positive role models for women and people around the world.
- To the people of the free world and to the Arab people we ask you all to show even greater solidarity through events, and apply more pressure on your Governments to provide real support to the struggle of our people and for the accountability of the Zionist war criminals.
- We call for the expansion of the campaign to boycott the state of the Zionist entity “Israel” and the imposition of sanctions and divestment at the global, Arab and national levels. We call for a mass campaign to boycott “Israel.”
Life for our people, in spite of all the crimes committed against them;
Glory, eternity and loyalty to our martyrs; and
Healing of our wounded and freedom for our prisoners.
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees
13/07/2014
