Statement by the National Executive of the Galizan Nationalist Bloc (BNG) regarding the Israeli announcement of an imminent massive attack on Gaza

In light of recent events in the Gaza Strip, the National Executive of the BNG meeting in Compostela on 16 October 2023 issued the following statement:

1. The Galizan Nationalist Bloc (BNG) condemns the consequences of the recent escalation of violence in the conflict between Israel and Palestine that has already led to a huge death toll and we deeply regret all of the Palestinian, Israeli and other civilian casualties.
    
2. The BNG firmly and categorically condemns the massive attack that the Israeli government has recently ordered on the Gaza Strip and calls upon the international community to take action to avoid a genocide. This indiscriminate attack of brutal proportions clearly violates international law. The blanket bombing, the cutting off of basic supplies such as electricity, drinking water, food and medicines can by no means be construed as an act of ‘self-defence’. These are the backbone of a policy of genocidal siege that only serves to further exacerbate the already desperate situation caused by the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007 to the extent that the UN should deem the conditions there ‘unfit for human life’. Over two million human beings, already condemned to live in 365 square kilometres in dire economic and social conditions, now live in inhumane conditions, constantly faced with the threat of losing their lives, as has already happened to the over 800 Palestinian children murdered since 7 October.
    
3. What we are witnessing today is the escalade of a longstanding conflict. Palestine has already suffered 75 years of ruthless occupation under a system of what can only be described as apartheid, with Israel repeatedly flouting all of the resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly and Security Council. Throughout these decades, Israel has not only thwarted the existence of a Palestinian State but has also physically occupied its territories (approximately 70% of the Palestinian territory since 1948) through the building of  settlements (declared illegal in UN Security Council Resolution 2334), subjecting its population to all kinds of abuse and ill-treatment, assassinating Palestinian leaders, holding hundreds of people in extrajudicial detention, building a Wall of Shame (also declared illegal), launching attacks that have left thousands dead and injured and imposing a callous blockade on the Gaza Strip.
    
4. For the BNG, the absolute priority at this time must be the immediate halt of the attacks ordered by the Israeli government against the Gaza Strip, the urgent opening of safe humanitarian corridors to assist the Palestinian population and the initiation of a process of internationally-backed political talks to seek a peaceful and fair solution to the conflict grounded in the respect for the United Nations resolutions.
    
5. Galizan nationalism has always been unequivocally committed to peace and the peaceful resolution to conflicts through diplomatic channels. We therefore call upon the international community to compel Israel to comply with all of the resolutions concerning the occupied territories that it has systematically violated (with impunity) and to guarantee the right of the Palestinian people to their own free and sovereign State, as well the right for the Palestinian refugees to return to their own country. We specifically call upon the United Nations to stop looking the other way while an outright genocide is being committed and to intervene and enforce the manifold resolutions that it has adopted and to set in motion the mechanisms necessary to sanction Israel for its blatant human rights violations. We also urge the competent authorities to process the request for the indictment of Netanyahu’s government in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity.
    
6. We denounce the position adopted on this conflict by the European Union and especially the visit of Ursula von der Leyen to Tall Abib (Tel Aviv) who, rather than demanding an immediate halt to the blanket offensive launched by the State of Israel against Gaza in compliance with international law, reassured the Israeli government instead of the unconditional support of the European Union in a yet another demonstration of the lack of any genuinely sovereign EU foreign, bowing instead to the dictates of the USA.
    
7. We demand that the Spanish government abandon its equidistant position and firmly condemns Israel’s actions, even going so far as to sever diplomatic ties with this state should it persist in pursuing its genocidal policy. We also demand that the Spanish government assumes its responsibility in the presidency of the European Union to lead a position in defence of the de-escalation of the conflict and to actively seek a negotiated solution based on respect for international law and the UN resolutions.
    
8. We have registered initiatives calling upon the Galizan and Spanish Governments and the European Union to significantly increase humanitarian, economic and social aid to the Palestinian population.
    
9. We denounce the antidemocratic measures sweeping Europe involving the ban on demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people in several member states, including carrying Palestinian flags or wearing items of clothing such as the keffiyeh (‘Palestinian headscarf’), the withdrawal of a prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair from a writer for being of Palestinian nationality and the call for the censorship of comments on social media in defence of the rights of the Palestinian people. We express our solidarity with everyone who have suffered repression and persecution for such reasons around Europe.
    
10. We appeal to the whole of Galizan society to participate in the mobilisations organised all around Galiza denouncing the situation in Palestine and demanding a peaceful and negotiated solution to this conflict based on respect for the UN resolutions.