Last Monday, a European Parliament mission to occupied Palestine was to begin, meaning that an official delegation would observe first hand, from the beginning of the pandemic, the consequences of the apartheid imposed by the Zionist regime specifically focusing on the West Bank, including Jerusalem. A few days before this visit took place, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied entry to Manu Pineda, the chair of the European Parliament’s EU-Palestinian Relations Committee, which has led to the cancellation of the entire delegation’s visit.
This is not the first time that Israel has denied access to representatives of foreign countries or institutions that maintain diplomatic relations with the Zionist state. In August 2019, it did not allow entry to two U.S. Democratic Members of Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The EU Delegation to Gaza was also prohibited and expelled, and for more than a decade they have not allowed access to Gaza for anyone from the European Parliament so as to avoid any report on the situation of Palestinians living there.
It is not by chance that the entry ban comes after Manu Pineda brought the murder of the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the plenary session of the European Parliament. The Zionist entity maintains by all means at its disposal its policy of opacity and enforced silence: it assassinates journalists and international activists, imprisons aid workers and attempts by all means to deny Palestinians the ability to expose Zionist colonisation and apartheid under which they suffer and struggle to bring to an end. Israel seeks complete control of the Palestinian territory to continue its Zionist expansion plan that includes physical control but also information control that operates through concealment, propaganda and whitewashing strategies.
At its core, the Israeli project requires the oppression of the Palestinian people and the control of their land. These are an essential and necessary part of the Zionist system. Therefore, the regime blocks any attempt to investigate its crimes; even if it comes from the same EU which has pampered it since its foundation, that is still a preferential trading partner and which has always looked the other way to the colonial barbarism imposed in Palestine, without daring to impose any sanction against this apartheid state.
From Samidoun we show our full support to all the representatives of the Delegation, to all the groups that have signed the joint statement of rejection and especially to Manu Pineda, who has been fighting for years to raise the voice of the Palestinian people in Europe.
We demand that, in the face of this tacit sanction, the European Parliament urgently push for sanctions and international isolation of the Zionist state. We expect the European Parliament to recognize that it is the responsibility of all the signatory states of the Geneva Convention to take measures to force the outlaw state of Israel to return to international legality, to comply with UN resolutions, to end the military occupation, apartheid and colonisation, to return all stolen lands, to return the Palestinian refugees expelled during the Nakba and to provide justice and reparations.
Despite all this, the Palestinian people remain rooted to their land and are still resisting. We will continue to unconditionally support their legitimate struggle for their liberation.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
