Grassroots and Anti-Imperialist Migrant Workers, Refugees, and Displaced People Oppose the Violent Occupation of and Wars of Aggression in Palestine
IMA Statement on the Occupation of Palestine and Siege of Gaza
October 19, 2023
On October 9, in retaliation to the most recent escalation of the Palestinian people’s resistance to occupation, the Israeli government imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza. According to the Israeli defense minister’s own words, “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed. We are fighting against human animals and we are acting accordingly.” Since then, the Gaza strip, with around 2 million Palestinians as well as an unconfirmed number of migrant workers still there, have been deprived of food, water, electricity, and fuel and the Israeli government has since dropped 6,000 bombs on the densely populated area in a span of a week.
With no sense of when the siege will end and basic supplies running out, some Palestinians in Gaza used their remaining cell phone battery life and energy to post online about how they might not make it to the end alive. Only moments after the ability of the people in Gaza to communicate to the world was extinguished, the Israeli government made the order for the Palestinians to clear out all buildings, structures, towns, and cities, and made clear their plans to carpet bomb the whole area. Since the beginning of the carpet bombing, the reported death toll has risen to over 2,000 people killed, over 700 of whom were children.
The actions of the Israeli government are nothing but atrocious. The International Migrants Alliance (IMA) condemns the Israeli government for killing Palestinians, for depriving them of basic needs, and for dehumanizing them by calling them “human animals.” We express our concern over the lives and welfare of the Palestinians that continue to be subject to carpet bombing and siege. We are also concerned that there may still be hundreds of migrant workers trapped in Gaza. We express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the migrant workers, from Thailand, Nepal, the Philippines, and others who worked as caregivers and farmers, who have reportedly been killed and injured in the conflict. We demand governments to ensure the safety and passage of migrants, refugees, and displaced people.
We call on all migrant workers, refugees, and displaced people to deepen their understanding and awareness of the situation in occupied Palestine and the actions of the Israeli government in order to combat misinformation and censorship regarding what is happening to the Palestinian people and the roots of the conflict. Driven by persecution in Europe, the Zionist movement aspired to create a Jewish-majority state. These aspirations were supported by the colonial intentions of the British in the Middle East in 1948. The creation of the state of Israel was a violent process that resulted in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland. By the first half of 1949, at least 750,000 Palestinians in total were forcibly expelled or fled outside of their homeland.
The forcible displacement of Palestinians and annexation of their homes continues today. The Israeli government regularly sends its army to harass, arrest, dehumanize, and kill Palestinians to enact its occupation. The Israeli government also sends and encourages its citizens to go to the homes of Palestinians and steal and occupy those homes. It also routinely demolishes and bulldozes buildings to clear more land for its own use without consent from the Palestinian people. Palestinians under occupation are deprived of freedoms, including their freedom of mobility, their freedom of expression, freedom from arbitrary arrest, and their access to redress when their homes are being stolen and their rights are under attack. The violent occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government has also produced a large number of Palestinians as displaced people and refugees without the right to return.
The United Nations and human rights organizations have condemned the Israeli government’s occupation as apartheid and against international law. Yet, the Israeli government is emboldened in its actions because of the military, financial, and political support given by the United States and other imperialist countries.
Because of how violent the occupation is, it is no wonder that the Palestinians are resisting, fighting, and seeking to end the daily and large-scale aggression, violence, brutalization, dehumanization, and demonization enacted by their Israeli occupiers with support from US imperialism. The Israeli government claims that its actions are justified against “terrorism” yet the root cause of the conflict is the Israeli government’s violent and ruthless occupation of Palestine. The United Nations has declared that a nation has the right to resist an occupier through any means necessary, including through armed struggle. Only the Palestinian people can assess and determine by what means they need to resist their occupier given whatever situation they may encounter, and to call their actions as “terrorism” would delegitimize their struggle for liberation and in effect allow violent occupation to continue.
Therefore, IMA, as an organization committed to fighting for the rights and welfare of the people and opposed to anti-people systems such as imperialism, condemns the continued occupation of Palestine and the atrocities that are being committed by the Israeli government especially in the recent siege of Gaza. We express solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for the genuine liberation of their nation. We demand an immediate cessation to the siege of Gaza and the carpet bombing. We demand an end to the occupation of Palestine and support the Palestinian struggle to end the roots of the conflict.
The situation in Palestine is a reminder for migrant workers, refugees, and displaced people that imperialism and its acts of aggression such as occupation is the root of forced migration. If imperialism and occupation continue in Palestine, Palestinians will remain refugees around the world and displaced and trapped in their own nation. And so, we continue to struggle in solidarity with the Palestinian people for the genuine liberation of our nations in order that conflict, lack of jobs, poverty, and desperation will no longer force us to leave our homes.
IMA calls on all its member organizations to hold solidarity actions for Palestine.
End Israeli occupation of Palestine now!
End the Siege of Gaza Now!
Migrants and Refugees Unite Against Imperialism and Wars of Aggression!
