Together We Can Build our Common Future

Dr. Akel M. A. Taqz - WPC Secretariat Member,

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Together We Can Build our Common Future

Dr. Akel M. A. Taqz - WPC Secretariat Member,

Palestinian Committee for Peace and Solidarity

Dear Comrades and friends,

Allow me first on behalf of the WPC and the Peace Movement in the ME and on behalf of the Palestinian Committee for Peace and Solidarity (PCPS) in particular to thank the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD) for the invitation and for hosting this important meeting and giving us this opportunity to discuss our common future and how can we achieve it together.

Allow me also to convey the warmest greetings of our member organizations and the peoples of the Middle East to the CPAPD and the friendly Chinese people for their firm position of support to the struggle for peace and justice in our region.

It is with deep respect to be in Nanjing a historical city for the Chinese people but also a martyr city, 80 years after the brutal massacre by the Japanese invaders against the innocent civilian population.

Dear comrades and friends

We strongly believe that the people of China and the peoples of Africa have and can discuss a lot of problems of common interests and they can address them. China and Africa need peace, need development and need cooperation to solve the problems which the world and the continent is facing especially in the last decade.

Fighting against terrorism, religious fundamentalism and chauvinism in the imperialist-dominated world in general and in the continent-especially in some countries like Libya which is only one example of such phenomena- is a matter of concern for all. Here we have to mention the fact that situation in Libya has deteriorated since the imperialist aggression in March 2011 with the cover of the UN.

How to face the consequences of the above constitutes a major challenge for the dialogue to end the conflict and to rebuild the country and to put it again on the path of development. There are also other African countries who suffer from similar conditions and instability in the Eastern part and Western part of Africa. Extreme poverty in the African continent is a big challenge where we can see millions of people especially children dying every year because of hunger and lack food and healthcare while the continent is very rich. Common struggle against poverty and diseases especially chronic ones are the priority of the efforts to be made. Likewise Climate change, environmental protection, saving the natural resources are important issues too.

All the above can be part of the dialogue and cooperation between the Chinese people and the peoples of Africa.

Africa is a major target for imperialist interventions and competition, between old colonial rulers and new forces, for example the USA, which are interested in the rich energy and natural resources and not in the wellbeing or prosperity of the peoples.

Taking in consideration that the world became a “small village”, we cannot isolate the problems of Africa especially its northern part from the problems of the ME.

We are all following the developments in Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, a region rich in energy resources and of geostrategical importance, an area where the USA, NATO and EU are interfering politically and militarily in order to safeguard their interests at the expenses of millions of people, being killed or displaced. .We believe that peace, stability and development cannot be achieved without solving the problems and root causes in the Middle East. In order to establish permanent peace and stability in these countries, the aggressions and threats have to stop, the occupation and foreign interference has to end.

Only then the promising plan of the “Silk Road” can serve to connect the peoples of the region with China and through the region to Europe.

In this sense we believe that the positive initiative of the PR China and its President Xi Jiping how to solve the ME conflict through dialogue on the basis of international law by ending the Israeli occupation of the lands occupied 1967 and establishing an independent Palestinian state within the borders of June 4th, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, can contribute to the solution of the matter. In the light of the negative developments of the recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel by the USA, the transfer of its embassy there and the fierce attack on the Palestinian Authority and the PLO by the USA, the initiatives of the PR China gain new weight.

Likewise we appreciate the principled position of China regarding the issue of refugees to be solved according to the UN Resolution 194. With the hope to reach the end of the conflict and interference, to return stability to Syria, Iraq and Libya, all this will enhance the cooperation between China and the whole region and continent.

We believe that China can play this positive role and we hope that China will do it.

We strongly believe that the vast majority of the peoples of the world and in particular of the African peoples have common dreams, aspirations and a common enemy, which is imperialism. There cannot be any real and durable peace if we don’t face, confront and defeat the forces which are steeling away our rights and our lives.

Thank you

(Akel Taqz, Coordinator of the Middle East in the World Peace Council, WPC)