CPI(M) steals a march on Congress by finding common cause with Muslim social organisations on Palestine issue

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] appears to have stolen a march on the Congress to find common cause with influential Muslim social organisations that have expressed deep dismay over the plight of the “war-oppressed” residents of Gaza.

CPI(M) State secretary M. V. Govindan said on Friday that the party would mobilise civil society from October 13 to October 20 to express solidarity with the Palestinian cause. The CPI(M) also sought to tap into the groundswell of sympathy in Kerala for the Palestinian people. CPI(M) leaders would hold meetings highlighting the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

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Mr. Govindan also attempted to put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a spot by accusing the Central government of veering away from India’s time-tested commitment to the emancipation of the oppressed people of Palestine. He condemned the tit-for-tat attacks by Hamas and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that had precipitated a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “Civilians, mostly families, were causalities on both sides,” Mr. Govindan said.

Mr. Govindan said Gaza residents were facing an impending siege and invasion by Israeli ground forces. He said IDF air strikes had crippled Gaza’s infrastructure. Israel has cut off electricity and power to the neighbouring country. Gazans could no longer cross over to Israel for work. Food and medicine shortages plagued the Palestinian people. “Hospitals have turned into morgues,” Mr. Govindan said.

Mr. Govindan traced the current conflict to the “imperialistic policies of Israel and its staunchest ally, the U.S.” He said the powers had conspired to politically undermine the relatively democratic and moderate Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). They encouraged Hamas, a more radical outfit, to supplant the PLO in Gaza. Now, Hamas has turned against its past handlers, Mr. Govindan said.

Asked whether the CPI(M) reckoned Hamas a terrorist organisation, Mr. Govindan said. “I am not going to elaborate on the class nature of Hamas. The CPI(M) is concerned about the rights of the Palestinian people. Communists reckon them an oppressed class and exiles in their land. A hostile Israel has hedged in Palestine from three sides. Palestinians have only the sea to flee to,” Mr. Govindan said.

Mr. Govindan said Israel and the U.S. should respect the U.N. resolution that suggested a two-nation solution to enable the peaceful coexistence of the people of Palestine and Israel.