We held a demonstration in front of the so-called Israeli Consulate in Levent, Istanbul, in order to protest the Israel’s U.S-backed plan to annex up to 30% of the West Bank. We marched from the Levent underground station to the consulate building with slogans and a long banner saying “side with the intifada, not with imperialist aggression and the Zionist annexation!”.
We also carried placards both demanding immediate release of Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese communist imprisoned in France who called for solidarity with the Palestinian people, and featuring the Al Fatah-issued Palestinian identity card of a Turkish revolutionary, Deniz Gezmiş, who had fought against Israeli army.
Approaching towards the Consulate building, we appealed to the people for supporting the Palestinian cause. The during-march propaganda exposing the crimes committed by Zionism and the U.S imperialism, and the collaborationist politics of the AKP drew attention from the people around.
It was seen that the Consulate, which was conscious that the
annexation plan would be a cardinal crime perpetrated by Israel against the
Palestinian people and all oppressed nations, had requested the Istanbul police
to take large security measures such as security lines, riot police and water
cannons.
We exposed the hypocrisy of the AKP government, which, on the one hand, has feigned opposition against Zionist aggression and, on the other hand, has dropped the Mavi Marmara case alongside strengthening its trade relationship with Israel and negotiating with Israel on the Palestinian gas fields.
We demanded the expulsion Israeli ambassador, and all commercial, military and political relations be severed. We called academics, sportspersons, artists and the relevant organizations to support the boycott movement and to cut off all their ties with Israel.
We reiterated our call for rejecting all sponsorships offered by ARTISRAEL, an organization that has played an important role in whitewashing the crimes of Israel. We also called on the Göztepe Football Club of Izmir to terminate its contract with Puma, which has sponsored Zionism.
See below for the text of the press release read out by our spokesperson Naz Şakar:
Dear reporters, and friends of Palestine,
We have asserted persistently since the first day of our
campaign that the Zionist Israeli state should be destroyed.
We have also emphasized that the plan of a “two-state
solution” should be rejected.
Zionists having been emboldened by Trump’s “deal of the
century” now make preparations to announce that they are annexing some parts of
the Jordan River Valley and of the West Bank that they had failed to usurp in
1948 and 1967.
We declare in our manifesto that Israel is a cancerous cell
that should be prevented from spreading, that is, it should be torn down!
Therefore, as having been seen in the Madrid Conference in
1991 and Oslo negotiations in 1993, “diplomacy” is not a proper means to deal
with that racist and aggressive state. Palestinian people have nothing left to
negotiate. The only way to deal with the Zionist entity is to wage an all-out
fight against it.
Dear reporters, and friends of Palestine,
We call on the laboring classes of Turkey to side with the
Palestinian people because imperialism and Zionism that persecute the
Palestinian people are also those that suck blood of the workers and laborers
of Turkey. Therefore, the plan to annex the West Bank is also an attack against
us.
The AKP government, on the one hand, has pretended to be
anti-Zionist and, on the other hand, has dropped the Mavi Marmara case
alongside strengthening its trade, military, diplomatic and intelligence
relations with Israel and negotiating with Israel on the Palestinian gas
fields.
As that illegitimate entity occupies the Palestinian
territory, art organizations do not hesitate to receive funds from the
ARTISRAEL.
AKP government approves the re-launch of Israeli cargo
flights.
We are sure that they will soon begin to negotiate on the
pipelines!
Today what those who are true friends of Palestine should do
against prospective annexations is to end all their relationships with that
illegitimate entity.
We, as Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism,
will do whatever is required to stop the Zionist aggression.
We will turn their dreams into nightmares.
We will stand firmly against the Zionist expansionism.
We will support the Palestinian cause and fight against
imperialism and Zionism until the day a free, secular and socialist Palestine
is established!
Long live the Palestinian cause!
Down with the Zionist Israeli State!
Down with imperialism!
Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism
1st July 2020