[News] Cuba Is Not Indifferent to the Massacre in Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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<https://resumen-english.org/2023/11/cuba-is-not-indifferent-to-the-massacre-in-gaza/>
Cuba Is Not Indifferent to the Massacre in Gaza
By Alejandra Garcia on November 19, 2023 from Havana

President Diaz Canel receives a keffiyeh from a Palestinian medical student.

In little more than a month, 12,000 Palestinians have been killed by
Israel, including 5,000 children, before the passive gaze of the
governments of the world. It is the people of these countries who are
protesting in large numbers for an end to the conflict that is leaving
Palestine in ruins, in almost non-existent living conditions. Every day,
thousands and hundreds of thousands of demonstrators around the world take
to the streets in favor of peace, and Cuba does not remain indifferent
either, as our government and the people call in one voice for a cease-fire
and the self determination of the Palestinian people.

On Friday, in a gesture of profound respect, Cuban President Miguel
Diaz-Canel and other leaders invited 144 young Palestinians studying
medicine in Cuba to a meeting at the Palace of the Revolution . And it was
emotional and heartbreaking.

“What a shame of humanity. Tears and even words are not enough to alleviate
the pain of the Palestinian people who are being wiped out in an act of
extermination perpetrated by Israel,” the Cuban president stressed.

photo: Ricardo-Lopez-Hevia

Fifty-three out of the 144 Palestinians who attended the meeting live in
the Gaza Strip. This is the case of Maria, 22, who has already witnessed
four wars in her country. She expressed her gratitude for the act of
solidarity at the Palace of the Revolution, one of the many others that
have taken place throughout the Caribbean country in support of the
Palestinian people since October 6.

“In Gaza, mothers carry their children twice: once in their wombs and once
in their shrouds. It’s hard to be away from family, but my mother has asked
me to continue studying, not to give up, because medicine is the noblest
job in the world. ‘Raise up your name and the name of Palestine, she told
me,” the young student recounted.

Mohammed Ahmed Zannoun, who has been in Cuba for nine months, told how he
and his friends cannot let the day go by without talking to their families.
“What do we Palestinians want? A free homeland. We are not asking for
anything else,” he said, adding how grateful he and his fellow students are
for Cuba’s support amid so much indifference from the international
community.

One prevailing sentiment prevailed in the auditorium. “Our territory won’t
be razed to the ground, and our people won’t be exterminated because there
will always be a combatant left standing.” And an image prevailed as well;
that of  the students placed on the shoulders of the Cuban leaders a
traditional keffiyeh that symbolizes the Palestinian people, the same item
that Fidel once wore on the shoulders of his uniform.


“We Cubans learned to defend the Palestinian cause from the
internationalist and humanist vision of the historic leader of our
Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, who was always a friend of
that nation that demands its right to self-determination,” the president
declared.

This Friday, the Cuban and Palestinian flags also illuminated the facade of
the José Martí monument in the emblematic Plaza de la Revolución, thanks to
renowned Cuban artists.

The island has expressed on numerous occasions its unconditional support
for the right of Palestine to be a free and sovereign state, with its
capital in East Jerusalem and in pre-1967 borders. This yearning has been
frustrated by the interference of US-backed Israel, whose land
confiscation, illegal settlements, and widespread discrimination have
inflicted suffering on the Palestinian population, stripping them of their
fundamental rights.

“We strongly condemn Israel’s genocide. We will accompany Palestine in
fulfilling its dream. As Fidel once said, it is time to put an end to the
philosophy of dispossession so that the philosophy of war dies due to lack
of incentives,” the Cuban president concluded.

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English
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