14 May 2003
The South African Communist Party (SACP_ join the Jordanian Communist Party and other progressive forces in the world in condemning the action of the Israeli armed forces to attack the Palestinian Peoples' Party (PPP) - on midnight of 10 May 2003, Israeli occupation soldiers raided their main headquarters in Ramallah and confiscated all the hard disks of the computers, files, political documents and administrative papers. This means that all the official papers of the Party, of those that belong to Comrade Hanna Amira; the PPP representative in PLO Executive Committee, and those for the other leading comrades had been confiscated.
The PPP shares a long-standing relationship with the SACP in our common struggles against apartheid and for world social justice. When the SACP visited Palestine during February 2001, the PPP was central in hosting the SACP delegation and ensuring that this delegation could understand and express solidarity with the plight of the oppressed people of Palestine. We saw our own eyes how the situation in Palestine is, in many ways, worse than apartheid.
The action of the Israeli armed forces was preceded, during the past few months, by attacks on PPP office buildings in Nablus, Toukarm, Salfeet, Qalqilia, and Jenin. The attacks resulted in the confiscation of all official papers and the destruction of windows, doors, furniture and equipment. Such brutal measures and violations against the offices of one of the leading political parties in the West Bank and Gaza coupled with the detention of many of the Party's cadres indicate the intention of the Israeli occupation authorities to escalate their oppression to silence those who firmly lead a moderate and realistic struggle for the establishment of a Palestinian Independent State and solving the Palestinian problem according to the UN resolutions.
The SACP joins the Jordanian Communist Party in expressing grave concern over the whole situation in Palestine and strongly condemns the Israeli attempts to prevent PPP from carrying on with its struggle against the outraging Israeli aggression, occupation, incursion and war crimes.
The SACP assures the people of Palestine, the toiling masses of the Middle East and all democratic and progressive forces in the world of its solidarity with the people of Palestine and all oppressed people in the world. The SACP calls on all South Africans to express their solidarity with the PPP and the Palestinian people. In fact, the attack on the PPP is a call to intensify solidarity with the people of Palestine and to increase political pressure on the Israeli government and its allies.
CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information & Publicity
South African Communist Party
3rd Floor, COSATU House, 1-5 Leyds Street
Braamfontein, 2017, Republic of South Africa
Tel: 27 11 339-3621/2, Fax: 27 11 339-4244,Cell: 083 651 0271
Email - mazibuko@sacp.org.za