Fidel Castro Signs Manifesto "To Defend Palestine," Joining More Than 300,000 Others
The leader of the Cuban revolution and former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, signed a manifesto on Friday called "To Defend Palestine."
Castro joined more than 342,000 people including artists, teachers, scientists, lawyers, journalists and citizens from all over the world to join a movement of thought and action to oppose any form of domination.
The manifesto, created by The Network in Defense of Humanity founded by Bolivian president Evo Morales, demands the governments of the world force Israel to leave Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, return to the borders in place prior to the "Six Days War" and ensure the return of Palestinian refugees as established by Resolution No. 242 of November, 1967, according to the U.N. Security Council. It defends a political solution of two equal states with definite borders that are recognized internationally.
"We condemn the imperialist role of the United States that feeds and supports politically, financially and militarily Israel pin the face of the unbelievable inaction of the U.N. Security Council whose resolutions on Palestine have been systematically and with impunity by Washington. A United States that demonstrates its hypocrisy and cynicism of its actions throughout history, threatening with sanctions against the peoples of Latin America, Africa and Eurasia that defend their sovereignty while it supports the actions of Israel," the manifesto said.
"We accuse the complicity of these actions, by omission in some cases of the governments of the European Union as well as unconditional support of the media obeying the dictates of Washington. Stop Now!"
Joining Morales in signing the manifesto is former Honduran president, Mel Zelaya, the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, the Argentine Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, poet and President of the House of America Roberto Fernandez Retamar, prima ballerina Alicia Alonso, American writer Alice Walker, Bishops Raul Vera and Pedro Casaldaliga, and the Cuban musician, Silvio Rodriguez.
Also on Friday a 72-hour cease-fire between Palestine and Israel ended. Since the beginning of the conflict a month ago, more than 1,800 people have been killed, and more than 10,000 have been wounded.