#FreePalestine | Statement in Support of the Al-Aqsa Flood

ILPS Committee for Africa and West Asia

October 9^th, 2023

The ILPS Committee for Africa and West Asia salutes the Palestinian resistance for their latest bold and inspiring campaign against the occupation of Palestine by the Zionist state. On October 7^th, the resistance launched “Al-Aqsa Flood,” a land, sea, and air operation against the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza. The operation was so named to commemorate the desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque by Zionists in May 2021. Some 5,000 rockets were fired at targets in Israel. Palestinian fighters raided military camps and fought battles along the settlements in Gaza. Small boats harassed Israeli warships to prevent them from attacking resistance forces. Prisoners were taken by the fighters in hopes of effecting an exchange for the more than 5,300 Palestinian political prisoners being held by Israel. 

ILPS recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves and oust the occupying forces. For seventy-five years, Palestinians have suffered from Zionist occupation, and Gaza in particular, has been under siege for fifteen years. The water sources of the people have been destroyed. Their homes, some of which have been occupied by Palestinian families for generations, have been demolished and their crops and farms bulldozed. Their land stolen and taken over illegally by settlers. Palestinian civilians are subjected to collective punishment. Many have died due to indiscriminate bombings and attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces which uses weapons and ammunitions supplied by US Imperialism and other Western imperialist powers whose complicity and strong support must be denounced. Since Nakba Day, May 15^th 1948, when Palestinian villages were burned and the villagers were killed or driven out from their homes by the Zionists, Palestinians now comprise the largest stateless community in the world. Some 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees live in West Asia alone.

ILPS stands for peace but it believes that peace can only be achieved by resolving the roots of the armed conflict in Palestine.

 To this end, we call on all freedom-loving people to support the struggle of the Palestinian people against the Zionist Israeli State for a free and independent Palestinian State.  Let us work for :

1. The release of all political prisoners detained by the Israeli government, including 170 children and 1,260 “administrative detainees” (incarcerated without charges).
2. An end to the occupation of Palestinian territories like East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.
3. Holding the State of Israel accountable for its atrocities against the Palestinians.