It’s Time To End the Philosophy of Dispossession

In an address about the situation in Palestine, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic,Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez issued a message of denunciation and called for immediate action. Juventude Rebelde reprints it here

Sixty-three years ago, in a historic speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Fidel Castro Ruz, the leader of the Cuban Revolution, said, and I quote:

“Wars, since the beginning of humanity, have arisen, fundamentally, for one reason: the desire of some to dispossess others of their wealth. If the philosophy of dispossession would disappear, then the philosophy of war would have disappeared! If the colonies were to disappear, the exploitation of countries by monopolies would disappear and then humanity would have reached a true stage of progress!”

This broad and profound idea sums up the reason for the horror the Palestinian people are living today, confined by a new apartheid to a minimal strip of land.

It is the philosophy of dispossession that today is causing a humanitarian catastrophe of Dante-esque proportions.

But it is not just a strip of land that suffers the impact of Israeli missiles. It is the Palestinian people who are the target of the bombs. More than 3,000 children and 1,700 women have been killed in recent weeks, while thousands of people remain trapped under the rubble, waiting for rescuers to come to save or bury them. More than 40% of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed and hospitals have been turned into morgues.

Cuba condemns in the strongest terms the bombardment of the population in Gaza and the destruction of their homes, hospitals and civilian infrastructure. We renounce the murders of innocent people resulting from the current escalation that viciously attacks without regard for ethnicity, life story, nationality or religious faith. We share in the painful suffering of Israeli civilian victims in the conflict, but we do not accept a certain selective indignation that pretends to ignore the gravity of the genocide that is being perpetrated against the Palestinians — a selective indignation presenting Israel as the victim and ignoring 75 years of attacks, occupation, abuse and exclusion. Nothing can justify what its army is doing to Gaza. Nothing can justify the grave violations of international humanitarian law that Israel is committing.

Israel is violating each and every U.N. resolution and each and every one of its obligations as an occupation power under the Fourth Geneva Convention, fully confident that the Security Council’s paralysis on this issue will ensure that Israel can continue to evade responsibility.

Even at this current, grave juncture, the Security Council has been unable to call on Israel to stop the ongoing massacre. The United States vetoed a Security Council motion that called only for a humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow access for aid to Gaza and to ensure the protection of civilians.

Those who today oppose the cessation of violence in Gaza as a matter of the highest priority will have to take responsibility for the grave consequences. But the United States’ position is not surprising; it has historically acted as an accomplice to Zionist barbarism. It has repeatedly obstructed Security Council action on Palestine with its offensive veto power, undermining peace and stability in the Middle East.

A comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the conflict fiercely requires that the Palestinian people enjoy a real exercise of their inalienable right to self-determination and to build their own state in the Middle East. There is no other effective way to stop this spiral of violence, and once and for all, save human lives and chart a viable course for peace.

Will the international community allow this unsustainable situation to continue, or will it remain hostage to an arbitrary exercise of power such as the U.N. veto that prevents it from acting as it should to stop this crime?

A group of countries, including Cuba, proposed that the United Nations General Assembly draft a resolution that has finally been approved. It demands an immediate cease-fire, the urgent establishment of a mechanism to protect the Palestinian civilian population, rejection of the forced displacement of civilians, and delivery of emergency humanitarian aid.

Every moment of inaction and indifference will cost more innocent lives. We must act immediately. We will continue to contribute as much as possible to legitimate international efforts aimed at putting an end to this barbarism.

History will not forgive the indifferent. And we will not be among them. It is time to put an end to the philosophy of dispossession so that the philosophy of war is starved for lack of incentive.