Israel needs to act now – Health of Palestinian strikers seriously deteriorating
Chairman of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) JP (Juha-Pekka) Väisänen met with Palestinian Ambassador in Finland Mr Taissir A.M. Al Adjouri. Bilateral meeting took place at the Representative Office of Palestine in Helsinki. Current situation in the Palestinian prisoner’s hunger strike and concrete actions for Palestinian solidarity were discussed. Chairman Väisänen delivered solidarity message of SKP and European Left party to Mr Taissir. More than 1000 prisoners have been refusing food since 17 April in protest at conditions in Israeli jails.
– Health of the strikers is seriously deteriorating and Israel needed to act now, demands chariman Väisänen
– SKP fully endorse the Palestinian cause and will continue putting pressure on the State of Israel until it respects the most basic human rights of the Palestinian population, says Väisänen
Palestinian prisoners and detainees have suffered from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and medical negligence since the founding of the State of Israel. Palestinian prisoners and their families continue being the main target of the Israeli policy of collective punishment.
– The Palestinian issue is extremely important and must be politically solved for a future of peace in the Middle East. We need to do much more than we so far have done to support Finnish grassroot NGO´s to organize more solidarity actions for Palestine, study the politics in the Middle East area and “wake up for solidarity”, underlines Väisänen
SKP maintains the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people to establish an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as the capital on the 4 June 1967 borders and the return of the Palestinian refugees, in accordance with UN Resolution 194, and numerous UN resolutions.
– We condemn the policies of de facto apartheid and of colonization through settlements, as well as the blockade of Gaza carried out by Israel and Egypt supported by the US and the EU, says Väisänen
– I firmly believe that a peace process based on equality, human rights, and the principle of self-determination is the only way to achieve peace and justice, and this cannot happen in the current situation in which there are more than 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, including elected representatives and around 300 children. For this reason, the State of Israel must meet the prisoners’ demands and start complying with international legislation, freeing all political prisoners and imprisoned minors, starting with the seriously ill, demands chairman Väisänen
