June 4, 2010

At this meeting an eye witness report was presented by Dimitris Yalelis, one of the Greek activists arrested and deported during the attack against the Freedom Flotilla and a leading member of SYNASPISMOS in Thessaly.

In addition to the international delegations, AKOA was represented at this meeting by Olga Athanitou.

Finally, please find attached the resolution adopted and the messages sent to this Meeting by Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom leader and Ken Coates, President of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation

SYNASPISMOS 6th Congress, 3-6 June , 2010
Special international meeting of left parties on Palestine

Resolution on the new crime of the Israeli government

The special international meeting of left parties convened in Athens on 4th June 2010 on the occasion of the 6th Congress of SYNASPISMOS approved the following resolution:

We condemn most strongly the new crime of the government of Israel committed in international waters which resulted to assassinations of people who carried humanitarian assistance to Gaza. A crime against the “freedom flotilla”, against solidarity promoting citizens of the world.

This crime is also a stigma for the international community, which should have intervened in time to guarantee the unhindered delivery of the humanitarian assistance and protect the lives of the activists. Special blame must be placed on the U.S Administration and the E.U for the fact that the inhumane and illegal blockade of Gaza has been maintained with their support.

The immediate demand of the world public opinion is that all the necessary measures should be taken for the exemplary punishment of those responsible for this tragedy. The government of Israel must be brought before International Justice. In this direction we will support action on the part of the activists who suffered the attack.

We demand a fair and transparent international investigation under U.N auspices for the new crime of Israel.

The barbaric blockade of Gaza - which daily causes deaths of civilians and children- must be terminated immediately.

We call on all States to cancel immediately their military cooperation agreements with Israel.

We call on the E.U and its members States to freeze the EU-Israel association agreement.

We express our absolute and unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom, independence and dignity. For the implementation of the UN resolutions, the termination of the Israeli occupation and the creation of an independent Palestinian State, in the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and for the right of return for the Palestinian refugees.

We condemn the Israel’s continuous policy of land confiscation and of building settlements in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, as well as the building of the apartheid wall in the West Bank.

We address a special appeal to all Palestinian political forces for national reconciliation and unity and support the relevant PLO and other efforts.

We greet the left and peace forces in Israel fighting under very difficult conditions, condemn the attacks against their activities and declare our solidarity with them in every possible way.

We also consider it our common task to step up our campaign for a Middle East free of nuclear and other mass destruction weapons and for all States of the region to comply with the Non - Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

We re-commit ourselves to intensify our efforts for an even greater international solidarity movement with the Palestinian people, for peace and justice in the Middle East.

Athens, 4 June 2010

Message by Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom, Israel

Dear friends,

On behalf of Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, we wish you success in your struggle for peace and human rights.

Gush Shalom has condemned the inhuman. immoral and illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip from the first moment. We have tried several times to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza, and compelled our military to let it in.

We demand an immediate end to the siege of 1.5 million men, women and children in Gaza. We demand that the Israeli government start a dialogue with Hamas, the movement which won the democratic Palestinian elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. We call upon the European Union to stop its boycott of Hamas. We call for a conpehensive exchange of prisoners, which will free the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The attack of the Israeli navy on the Peace Flotilla was only the latest example of a brutal and misguided policy. We strongly support the flotilla and its humanitarian and political aim - the breaking of the blockade.

Beyond the immediate events, our aim must be to create in Israel, Palestine and all over the world effective moral pressure for peace, which means the establishment of the free and sovereign State of Palestine within the pre-1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem. The government of the US and the European countries, including Greece, must find the moral and political courage to support this solution not just by words, but by effective political action.

We hope for cooperation with you and all forces for peace and justice around the world.

Uri Avnery,
Chairman, Gush Shalom

Message by Ken Coates, Chairman
The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to seize this opportunity, now that you are in Congress, to appeal to you concerning the Israeli onslaught against the peace flotilla which was sailing to Gaza with humanitarian aid for the people there.

It is our opinion, and that of the members of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, that the attack by Israeli commandos on 30 May 2010 off the coast of the Gaza Strip is in violation of several fundamental principles of international law:

- the principle of the freedom of navigation on the high seas (Convention on the Law of the Sea, Article 87). This attack took place 40 miles off the coast of Gaza, and was in international waters;

- the prohibition on attacks on civilians: the attack having been made within the framework of the occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel (an occupation which persists due to the continuous control by Israel of land, air and maritime borders of the Gaza Strip), this attack occurred in a context of armed conflict; consequently, in relation to the laws of armed conflicts, this attack can be considered as an attack against civilians and as constituting a war crime, which all states have an obligation to prosecute (customary international humanitarian law, Law 1..156 para.);

- the obligation to comply with the decisions of the Security Council (Charter of the UN, art. 25) asking Israel to withdraw from territories that it has been occupying for more than 40 years (Security Council resolutions 242 of 22 November 1967, and 338 of 22 October 1973).

These violations of international law involve Israel 's international responsibility, its obligation to make reparations for the damage resulting from these violations, and the obligation of all States to prosecute and punish those responsible for these violations when they concern crimes against international law.

This incident, which is an additional episode in Israel’s long record of violations of international law, demonstrates once again the ease, if not the contempt, with which the Israeli state breaches the most fundamental principles of international law.

Israel’s strategy of disregard for international law reflects a laissez-faire approach on the part of the international community and the impunity which the state of Israel has been accorded for several decades. This was strongly underlined by the Jury of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine during its first international session in Barcelona in March. To this end, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine insists on:

1. The lifting of Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid, a collective punishment prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention;

2. An end to the siege of Gaza by the Israeli authorities, in compliance with its obligation to end its territorial occupation;

3. The opening of an international inquiry into the circumstances of the attack on 30 May, in order to examine the validity of any possible justifications invoked by Israel;

4. The suspension of the EU/Israel Association Agreement in accordance with the provisions contained in this agreement.