Condemns Attacks On Gaza
And Calls For Mobilization

The Communist Party of Israel Condemns Deadly Attacks on
Gaza and Calls for International Mobilization

The Communist Party of Israel and Hadash (the Democratic
Front for Peace and Equality) condemns today's deadly
attack by the Israeli Air Force on the Gaza Strip, which
resulted in the killing of over 150 Palestinians. The CPI
calls on Communist and Workers parties and social movements
throughout the world to mobilize against these Israeli war
crimes and demands that the international community
implement sanctions against Israel and indict Tzipi Livni,
Ehud Barak and other Israeli political and military
leadership for these blatant war crimes, committed as part
of Israel's election process.

Today's Israeli attack is part of the ongoing
siege of the Gaza Strip. Israel is exploiting the last
moments of the Bush administration to implement the deadly
but ineffective imperialist policy of utilizing military
force to effect political change. Demonstrations against
the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip are planned for the
Israeli major cities, and demonstrations will be conducted
tonight in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Nazareth. Yesterday
(Friday), hundreds demonstrators attended a rally in
central Tel Aviv to protest the expected Israeli military
operation to Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza. The
rally was organized by the Coalition against the Gaza Siege
and Hadash (Democratic Peace and Equality Front Communist
Party of Israel).

"I suggest that we go the other direction," said Hadash
Knesset Member Dov Khenin, a leading member of the
Communist Party of Israel. "Our power is our tragedy. One
powerful blow will not bring the end. They will respond
with rockets and eventually we'll embark on an all-out war.
Going in the other direction means reinforcing the lull,
securing a ceasefire, and lifting the siege that only
serves to unite the population around Hamas."

"A genuine peace process will be engaged in vis-a-vis the
Palestinian Authority, led by Abbas," he said. "What's
tragic here is that it's possible. We just need the
desire."


Khenin added that it is "essential to secure a prisoner
swap that would include Gilad Shalit." When asked why fewer
Israelis object the war in Gaza, he said: "People lost
their hope. They realize that what's happening is bad, yet
they think there's no other option. Yet we are not destined
to be the victim of history." Another rally participant,
the former MK Tamar Gozansky, said: "Two years ago we
protested at the same site, before the Second Lebanon War.
We were ostracized and referred to as traitors. Yet several
months later, all the people who made fun of us carried
their own signs to Rabin Square and protested against
Olmert's policy. I really hope that we won't have yet
another reason to say: 'We told you so.'" In an earlier
statement, MK Khenin said: "A comprehensive war in Gaza is
dangerous and unnecessary and will put the lives of
thousands of Gazans and western Negev residents at risk"."
War is not the solution to the Kassam rocket problem," he
continued. "There is another way: a real truce agreement.
Not just a cease-fire, but also ending the Gaza blockade
and easing the extreme suffering of a million-and-a-half
people."