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<h1 class="title">Palestinians in Gaza Rally Behind Venezuela,
Reject US Imperialism</h1>
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">Lucas Koerner </span>
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<p><strong>Caracas, March 30, 2015 (<a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/" target="_blank">venezuelanalysis.com</a>)
–</strong> Scores of Palestinians rallied in Gaza City this
past weekend in solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution,
expressing their categorical rejection of President Barack Obama’s
Executive Order branding Venezuela a <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11261" target="_blank">“national
security threat”</a> earlier this month. </p>
<p>This latest instance of U.S. aggression has provoked an
international outcry with Palestinians joining a plethora of other
nations, including important multilateral blocs such as the <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11298" target="_blank">CELAC,
the Non-Aligned Movement, and the G77+China</a>, in demanding
the immediate repeal of the White House decree. </p>
<p>The rally, which was organized by the leftwing Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), featured numerous
representatives of popular organizations in the Gaza Strip, who
could be seen waving Palestinian and Venezuelan flags, displaying
posters of President Nicolas Maduro and the late president Hugo
Chávez, and vigorously chanting slogans opposing U.S. aggression
against Venezuela.</p>
<p>The Gaza Strip is home to over 1.8 million Palestinians who have
since 2007 lived under <a
href="http://imeu.org/article/putting-palestinians-on-a-diet-israels-siege-blockade-of-gaza"
target="_blank">illegal Israeli siege</a> and <a
href="http://imeu.org/article/operation-cast-lead"
target="_blank">recurrent massacres, </a>the most recent of
which this <a
href="http://imeu.org/article/50-days-of-death-destruction-israels-operation-protective-edge"
target="_blank">past summer</a> claimed the lives of well over
2100 people. More than two-thirds of the deaths were civilians. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, despite these grave conditions of Israeli siege and
occupation, which have been likened to those of an <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jul/27/david-cameron-gaza-prison-camp"
target="_blank">“open prison”</a> and condemned as <a
href="http://ijsn.net/nafa/survivors-and-descendants-letter/"
target="_blank">“genocidal”</a>, the Palestinian people do not
hesitate to stand behind the people of Venezuela, explains Ishaq
Khury, PFLP spokesperson in Venezuela. </p>
<p>“Although the Palestinian people in Gaza live in the largest
concentration camp in the world, they are free and dignified
people who always stand up to defend other peoples who suffer the
same imperialist/Zionist aggression". </p>
<p>“The Palestinian people, the Venezuelan people, the peoples of
Latin America have common objectives, common enemies, so we are
united in the struggle for liberation, for freedom, for
independence, and beyond that, for an alternative world, a
socialist world,” Khury told Venezuelanalysis. </p>
<p>Under late President Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolas
Maduro, Venezuela has emerged as one of the most vocal champions
of the cause of Palestine solidarity worldwide, <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10788" target="_blank">leading</a> the
diplomatic charge against Israeli war crimes internationally and
forging important diplomatic and economic <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10692" target="_blank">ties</a> with
the Palestinian Authority, including <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/9967" target="_blank">oil</a> deals,
emergency <a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10998"
target="_blank">aid</a>, and <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11012" target="_blank">scholarships</a> for
Palestinian medical students. </p>
<p>However, for Susana Khalil, a Palestinian-Venezuelan whose family
was ethnically cleansed from the territory now known as Israel in
1948, this solidarity goes beyond a strategic alliance. </p>
<p>“The Palestinian people feel deeply connected to the Bolivarian
process in which they feel closely involved as participants". </p>
<p>“The Palestinian cause, the Bolivarian process are causes of our
times. They are the cries of freedom, liberation, justice,
dignity, of people’s democracy against the colonialist and
imperialist anachronisms,” explained Khalil, also a spokesperson
for the Canaan Association of Aid to the Palestinian People, to
Venezuelanalysis. </p>
<p class="published">Published on Mar 31st 2015 at 10.54am </p>
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