Fight Back News Service is circulating the following interview that appeared on the website of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

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“The United States and the European Union are deeply complicit in the Israeli war crimes currently being committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza. In fact, they are directly responsible for the death and destruction being rained down upon our people by Zionist war planes,” said Comrade Khaled Barakat, in an interview on July 11 with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine website regarding the occupation state’s assault on Palestinians in Gaza.

“This is not the first time that Israel commits war crimes against Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, dropping US-made bombs on innocent civilians in their homes, which up until now have killed over 100 Palestinians, destroyed over 400 homes and injured hundreds of men, women and children, targeting civil institutions and infrastructure, schools, health care facilities and even livestock farms,” said Barakat.

“The United States seeks to claim that it is some sort of ‘mediator’ in Palestine, reiterating its decades-long lie of being an ‘honest broker.’ In reality, United States weapons, funds and political support are the mechanisms that supply and oil the killing machine attacking our people. The U.S. can never claim to be a ‘mediator’ while it is US-made F-16 airplanes shooting US-made missiles and bombs into the homes of Palestinian families,” said Barakat.

Furthermore, he noted, “Obama is just as guilty – if not more so – than Netanyahu. Hollande, Cameron and Merkel are active participants in the war crimes against our people.”

Barakat noted the recent statement of leftist Members of European Parliament, calling for an end to the Israeli “blood bath” taking place in Gaza against the Palestinian people, but noted that “those Members of the European Parliament who are truly concerned for justice in Palestine and who were elected on a platform of social justice and change must do more to expose Israeli crimes: statements are an insufficient response to the urgent crisis facing the Palestinian people.”

“The United States and European Union are not spectators or observers of the brutal war against the Palestinian people. It is US imperialism and its partners in Britain and Europe that have created and sustained the occupation state as a bulwark of imperialism against the Arab people throughout its over 66 years of atrocities and violence against the Palestinian people,” said Barakat.

Barakat saluted the Palestinian communities and their friends and allies around the world in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand for responding to the call for support, solidarity and action. “Hundreds of marches, demonstrations and rallies are being organized in the streets of the world’s cities. Our Palestinian people outside and the popular, progressive and revolutionary movements of the world are marching. It is extremely important for these movements, particularly in the United States and Europe, to expose the alliance that funds and sustains Israeli war crimes: U.S. weaponry, EU technology, U.S. funding, EU diplomacy. This US-EU-Israeli alliance is fully responsible for the killing of over 100 Palestinians, including over 20 children, and the military, economic, financial and security ties between these parties must be exposed to the eyes of the world.”

He urged that “now is a particularly critical time to intensify the boycott and the isolation of the racist settler colonial occupation state. The occupier has shown that it recognizes the significant power of international isolation and views it as a threat. The boycott of the occupation state on all levels – economic, cultural, and academic – is an important means of international support to the besieged Palestinian people. This is recognized by the Zionist movement, which is exerting massive pressure in an attempt to suppress the boycott movement around the world. As Gaza is under attack, this is the time to isolate the occupier internationally and boycott it fully.”

Furthermore, Barakat condemned the Egyptian government’s ongoing role and participation in the siege imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza. “The Egyptian government is actively involved in imposing the siege on Gaza. The siege must be lifted immediately, with the full opening and operations of the Rafah crossing for people and goods, with a high priority for medical aid and the Egyptian people’s support to reach our people in Gaza.” said Barakat.

“The United States, the European Union – the imperialist and colonial powers, the occupation state, the international Zionist movement working to support the occupier’s actions, and the right-wing Arab regimes are working together to suppress the Palestinian people and their resistance,” said Barakat. “They must be met with popular struggle at all levels, around the world – from increasing boycott activities to occupying U.S. and Israeli embassies in the cities of the world until the massacres of the Palestinian people end.”

“Arab regimes are not simply silent and inactive as Palestinians are killed. Egypt is a full participant in the siege of Gaza. Saudi Arabia is working together with the U.S. and the occupation state to destroy the region, and not only Gaza, in order to maintain their hegemony, interests, and brutal regimes,” Barakat said.

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