At the start of Israel’s current attacks on Gaza, the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists issued the following statement:
When will you cut relations with the enemy, if not now?
In the midst of what is called ‘The Arab Spring’, Gaza’s Winter continues. Zionist shelling has so far killed more than ten martyrs, including children and even babies. Hundreds have been wounded, Gaza’s hospitals are overflowing, and the ‘good citizens’ of the world are rolling up their sleeves and preparing to provide relief, as if the people were victims of a volcanic explosion or an earthquake, rather than facing Zionist colonialism which enjoys the support of the Great Powers, and acts as the watchdog for their interests in the region.
Even the “democratic” president of the United States, whose re-election the liberal world celebrated, did not hesitate in describing the Zionist massacre as the legitimate right to self-defence.
A few months ago, the same Zionist entity killed 6 Egyptian soldiers on the borders of Egypt. And after the attack on a larger number of troops from the Central Security Forces, who, according to the shameful Camp David agreement, are the only forces we are allowed to station in the border areas, the military regime in power at the time did not move. Instead it arrested protesters who demanded retribution and cutting relations with the enemy.
Today we are told that the military regime has fallen, and that the elected president rules the country. This president comes from a party and an organisation which has long raised the slogan of the liberation of Jerusalem, and vowed that “Muhammad’s Army will free Palestine from the Jews”. So what did he do? He withdrew our ambassador from Tel Aviv. And he called yesterday (Wednesday 14 November) for an emergency Arab League summit on Saturday, preserving his right to enjoy the Islamic New Year holiday. He agreed to Hamas’ request to stop destroying the tunnels, after having himself ordered that they be bombed during the so-called ‘Eagle 2’ operation, which we were told was about stopping “terrorism” in Sinai. We have heard conflicting statements about the ambassador of the Zionist entity in Egypt, as Zionist sources confirmed that the embassy is functioning normally, and the ambassador merely returned to the colony for the weekend!
Today the Zionist entity is preparing a ground attack on Gaza while Egyptian gas is still being pumped to him, the Rafah crossing remains closed and the Camp David agreement is still valid. Meanwhile, the Egyptian regime, according to the website of Maariv newspaper is hoping for “constant contacts with Israel, as it is in Egypt’s interest now to calm the atmosphere and disregard internal issues.” Maarivadded that Netanyahu’s statements and a number of Israeli ministers suggested that the escalation of the Israeli response would wait until the next round of violence!
Zionist shelling of border areas yesterday smashed several windows of houses on the Egyptian side, sparking panic among residents. What are Morsi, his ministers and his advisers, his aides, his party and his organisation waiting for to declare clearly what they always preached before they reached power: that they will cut all ties with the Zionist enemy, abolish the Camp David agreement, redeploy the Egyptian army in Sinai and permanently open the Rafah crossing?
The elected president has done something which even Mubarak did not. Ongoing contacts between Cairo and Tel Aviv aimed at reaching a truce agreement between Hamas and Israel seem to say that this is a misunderstanding between two parties each claiming to be in the right. As if this is not a case of people whose land, homeland and identity was stolen, and who are forced to live as prisoners, while the world – including the Egyptian regime – compete to secure the prison gates.
It is not surprising that the Zionist entity’s war on the people of Palestine has intensified days after Abu Mazen conceded the right of return and Jerusalem’s role as the capital of Palestine. The government of the Zionist entity has no need to worry that it may face any pressure from Ramallah. After the silence of the Egyptian regime over the killing of Egyptian soldiers or shelling the border areas, the Zionist government knows it there is no danger expected on the western front. What better use can these reassurances serve, than for the killing of the Palestinian people to provide fodder for Netanyahu’s election propaganda that he brought “the neighbours” to their knees?
The Revolutionary Socialists declare their full and unconditional solidarity with the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people. They have the right to use all means of struggle, including armed struggle, for the liberation of the whole of Palestine. We clearly see the role played by the Arab silence over the massacres taking place in Gaza, and we reject the Egyptian regime’s appeasement of the Zionist entity by limiting of official Egyptian reaction to administrative procedures and resorting to the Arab League and the Security Council, which have been complicit throughout the history of the occupation. We call on all the revolutionary and national forces, and all of Egypt’s sons and daughters to organise protests demanding that Morsi’s regime:
- cuts all ties with the Zionist entity, by which we mean to close the embassy and expel the Israeli ambassador, recall the Egyptian ambassador and permanently stop all trade and economic transactions with the enemy
- cancels the Camp David agreement with all its secret clauses and regains complete control of Sinai
- opens the Rafah crossing permanently and allows freedom of movement from both sides.
Glory to the martyrs … Glory to the resistance .. and victory of the revolution! Long live the struggle of the Arab peoples for freedom and social justice!
The Revolutionary Socialists
15 November 2012
Read the original statement in Arabic
Picture: Over 500 Egyptian activists, Revolutionary Socialists among them, cross into Gaza in Egypt’s largest solidarity convoy during one of the bloodiest days of the ongoing Israeli offensive.
Reprinted from the International Socialist Tendency.
