Article and photos by Yaimi Ravelo on October 18, 2023 from Havana
A powerful denunciation was made from the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), against the genocide perpetrated by the Zionist army of Israel in the Gaza Strip today in Havana.
Hundreds of Cubans, young Palestinian and Middle Eastern students, Palestinians living in Cuba, militant comrades from Arab countries, friends of international solidarity, ambassadors of the diplomatic corps accredited to the island and Cuban government officials, demonstrated the deep feeling of solidarity with the people of Palestine that emanates from Cuban soil.
“From the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, we join our voices to those in the world who have come out to condemn the genocide of the Zionist regime of Israel against the Palestinian population,” said Fernando Gonzalez Llort – president of ICAP – at the beginning of the Tribune of Solidarity with Palestine.
During his speech, the Cuban hero affirmed that “Cuba, which defends peace and the rights of human beings without distinction, strongly condemns the indiscriminate bombings against the civilian population”.
He strongly reaffirmed that “it is a crime against humanity that must cease”.
“The recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip are causing heavy material losses. The already badly damaged infrastructure that was trying to make possible the survival of more than two million of its inhabitants is seriously threatened and many are pushed to seek refuge outside their territory. However, as tragic as this situation is, it cannot be compared to the merciless massacre of defenseless people in which no distinction is made between combatants and innocents, between children and men, and women, the elderly, the sick and the helpless are killed without regard.”
We condemn the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza”, said Gonzalez Llort.
ICAP President Fernando Gonzalez
He described the attack on the hospital as a shame for all humanity and denounced that it could only be possible with the support of the United States, “the government of Israel is intensifying its policy of aggression to consummate the plan of extermination of the Palestinian people”.
“We make a renewed call for the condemnation of Israel for war crimes, we will not surrender, nor will we rest in the demand that this flagrant violation of one of the most elementary rights of human beings cease: the right to land, to home, to homeland and above all, to life.”
If there is something that the Zionist regime will never be able to kill, it is the courage and resistance of Palestine”, warned Fernandez.
The ICAP president assured that Cuba will continue to defend in all scenarios the cause of the Palestinian brothers and sister as expressed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the country, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez who said, “We maintain our unrestricted position on a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, supporting the search for a negotiated, just and definitive political solution that guarantees the exercise of the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to exist as a sovereign and independent state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
this war is genocide
In the rally there were posters evidencing the horrendous crime against the Palestinian civilian population, slogans demanding unity and struggle against genocide. Hugs of hope, of accompaniment in pain, humanity crying out for the cessation of crime and terror.
“An ambulance is sacred, a doctor is sacred. These are rules that must be respected in this world, we are in 2023, not in a cave. This must be respected with all the force of reason and justice, international laws must be respected, they exist to be enforced, not to be mocked,” claimed Graciela Ramirez Cruz, Coordinator of the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity.
In her energetic speech, the Argentinean activist recalled that the victims in the hospital numbered 1,300, “already in the early morning, at 1:00 a.m., the rescuers told us that they could not continue counting the dead”, she detailed.
“Today in the morning there were 3,450 dead so far and 11,000 wounded. War? This is not war, this is ethnic cleansing, genocide, extermination. This is not war and it has to stop at once,” demanded Ramirez.
a young Palestinian living in Cuba with Graciela Ramirez
She continued “I pray for the Palestinian mothers who have no more tears to cry, for the grandfathers and grandmothers, and for the children. For the wonderful young people who have risen up to defend the land with all the right and reason they have, with the weapons of diplomacy, stones or bullets, because the land is sacred, the family is sacred, the Homeland is sacred, sovereignty is sacred.”
“Our cause still stands,” said the Ambassador of the State of Palestine, Akram Samhan, on behalf of his people and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
“Our people will not abandon their land, we are sure that we will win because our cause is just our just,” he exclaimed.
“No to the genocide of our people, our people are fighting to end the occupation, with their inalienable rights, to self-determination as a people, for their freedom, for the right of return of their refugees and displaced from their homes for 75 years.”
Palestinian ambassador to Cuba; Akram Samhan
The Palestinian diplomat recalled that the governments of Israel are executors of crimes and massacres committed for more than seven decades, intensified by the current government on the West Bank, “against the Holy City of Jerusalem against our olive trees, our homes. Thousands of political prisoners in Israeli jails, attacks on holy places, usurpation of our lands to build settlements”. He denounced
Ambassador Samhan also repudiated the silence of the international community in the face of Israel’s constant violations of international law, under the cover and protection of its powerful overseer and the other nations of the West.
The Palestinian ambassador thanked the expressions of solidarity from Cuba and assured that victory is in the hands of his people.
Today’s Tribune in Solidarity with Palestine was chaired by Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the PCC and head of its Ideological Department.
Source: Cuba en Resumen
