Statement by the Independent and Democratic Workers’ Party (POID, France)

It is with emotion that the POID  deplores the hundreds of civilian victims, especially the young people and children whose lives have been brutally snatched away in Israel and the Gaza Strip.

On 7 October, a milestone was reached. “We are at war!” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately declared. Do we need recall that the war did not begin on 7 October 2023? It has been devastating the region for 75 years.

For 75 years, the Palestinian people have been expelled from their land, driven from their villages and had their homes destroyed. For 75 years, they have been denied the Right to Return and have faced a settlements process that is devouring more and more Palestinian land. Subjected to a veritable apartheid regime of discrimination, oppression and humiliation, they have nevertheless continued to resist and fight back.

Today, representatives on all sides are calling on the UN to pave the way for a “just and lasting peace”. Can we forget that from 1947 to the present day, the UN has been behind all the plans for partition – including those for the so-called “two-state solution” – which have never led to anything other than a worsening of the plight of the Palestinian people? The UN cannot be both the root of the evil and its remedy.

As this statement is being written, the escalation of the war is gathering pace. US President Biden is sending his navy to cruise off the coast of Gaza. The Israeli government has just declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip aimed at starving its 2 million inhabitants.

The POID reaffirms its unconditional commitment to peace. As a supporter of the right of all peoples to freedom, sovereignty and independence, it stands in solidarity with the legitimate aspiration of the Palestinian people to live free in the land of their ancestors. For the words “just and lasting peace” to take on real meaning, all the current inhabitants of the land of Palestine – those living within the borders of the State of Israel, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – must be able to share the same citizenship and the same rights, whatever their origin, culture, language or religion, whether Arab or Jewish.

And let nobody say that this is a utopia. The worst blood-soaked utopia is the one that, for 75 years, has perpetuated the situation of oppression and injustice imposed on a people deprived of the rights which in principle are recognised for all peoples. The tragic situation that unfolded on 7 October is further proof of this.

National Bureau

4.00pm, Monday, 9 October 2023