Filipinos in Amsterdam join demo vs. Israeli attacks on Gaza

Several representatives of Filipino organizations based in the Netherlands joined the big demonstration in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, last Jan. 3, 2009, to condemn the latest Israeli attack on Gaza.

They joined some 5,000 mostly Palestinians, and peoples from the Middle East together with leaders of Dutch support groups for Palestine. They denounced the latest Israeli attacks and invasion of Gaza that has already cost the lives of hundreds of Palestinians, mostly civilians, women and children.

The Filipino activists distributed statements of the ILPS and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) condemning the Israeli attacks.

The protesters, who came from all walks of life and included some prominent Dutch politicians, marched along the city center of Amsterdam.

The Filipino activists carried two big murals that depicted the persevering struggle of the Palestinian people for a free homeland.

The demonstration in Amsterdam was a reply to a worldwide call to express support for the people of Palestine. Other big demonstrations were held in France, the UK, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. #

Press Statement
4 January 2009

ILPS CONDEMNS ISRAELI GROUND INVASION OF GAZA
AND THE ESCALATING MASSACRE OF PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committees
International League of Peoples' Struggle

Since December 27, 2008, the US-supported Zionist Israel has carried out a war of aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza. It has launched air strikes by F-16 jet planes and Apache helicopters and artillery shelling by naval vessels in order to massacre hundreds and injure thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and destroy their homes, mosques, schools, public buildings, oil depots, power plants, water facilities and other infrastructure.

The massacre of the Palestinian people and the destruction of their public and private properties are being rapidly escalated with the ground invasion of Gaza by thousands of Israeli troops and tanks since evening yesterday. The aggressors have interdicted food and medicine supplies. They have destroyed all the sources of fuel and power and have thus disabled vehicles and the hospitals. They have killed Palestinian medical personnel and have prevented ambulances from reaching the victims of aerial bombardments, shelling by naval artillery and strafing by ground forces.

The US imperialists are hellbent on letting the Zionists wreak death and destruction on the Palestinian people without limit and with complete impunity. They have publicly incited the Zionists to escalate their aggression and have blocked every effort in the UN Security Council to pass a ceasefire resolution and to stop the carnage. Together with the Zionists in Israel, they want nothing less than the complete surrender and subjugation of the Palestinian people in Gaza and in the whole of Palestine.
 

US imperialism is being consistent and true to its evil nature. It has supplied Israel with all the military, political and economic resources to wage aggression repeatedly against the Palestinian people since 1948, occupy Palestine and drive away millions of Palestinians from their homeland. The US has used Israel as the bridgehead of US imperialist hegemony in the Middle East and as the platform for threatening and blackmailing countries in the region, making them military and political clients and controlling the oil resources.

We, the International League of Peoples' Struggle, reiterate in the strongest terms our condemnation of the US-supported war of aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and once more declare our solidarity with and support for the entire Palestinian people in their resistance against Zionist Israel and its US imperialist master.

In this regard, we also criticize and condemn those governments in the Middle East that collaborate with the US in supporting Israel directly and indirectly, delivering the oil resources of the region to the US oil giants and suppressing the resistance of the Palestinian, Arab and other peoples in the Middle East. It is a shame that the overwhelming number of Arab people are prevented by their governments from extending the most effective support to the Palestinian people.

We, the International League of Peoples' Struggle, stand in solidarity with the Palestinian, Arab and other peoples of the world in the struggle against US imperialism and Israeli Zionism. Once more we call on all member-organizations and allies of the ILPS to initiate as well as join protest mass actions and other activities that express and gather militant support for the resistance of the Palestinian and Arab peoples against US imperialism and Israeli Zionism. ###