ALBA-TCP Declares Palestine a ‘Brother Nation’
Representative of Palestine Riad al-Maliki (L) and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R), Dec. 14, 2024. X/ @Ale_Securi
December 15, 2024 Hour: 8:07 am
It condemned the crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli forces in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
On Saturday, the 24th meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) concluded by declaring Palestine a “brother nation” and including it as a “permanent guest” in this integration mechanism.
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In a special declaration, the ALBA member countries reiterated their condemnation of the “terrible crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip and illegally occupied Palestinian territories” and strongly rejected the “relentless and inhumane genocide committed by the State of Israel, the occupying power, as well as its plan of plunder, invasion, and domination.”
They also denounced the “complicit support” of governments that “allow Israel to act with impunity” and demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, where Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 44,930 Palestinians and injured 106,624 people since launching their offensive in October 2023.
ALBA-TCP reaffirmed its support for “all necessary political, social, and diplomatic actions to guarantee the Palestinian people their legitimate right to peace and to establish their independent state.”
“From the heart of the peoples and governments of this alliance, we declare Palestine a brother nation of ALBA-TCP and reaffirm our commitment to defending the Palestinian cause, which is the defense of humanity,” the statement added.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro celebrated this declaration, which was approved “unanimously,” and expressed his hope that “one day” ALBA will hold a summit “with the Palestinian people” in a “free Jerusalem” in the “hands of the people and not imperialist, warmongering, and Nazi elites.”
Additionally, the Bolivarian leader called on Pope Francis to “raise his voice” for “the rights of the Palestinian people to their land, history, legacy, independence, and peace.”
ALBA was created in 2004 by the then-presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, and currently has ten members, including Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia.
The ALBA-TCP summit was also attended by Presidents Luis Arce (Bolivia), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), and Miguel Díaz-Canel (Cuba), as well as Prime Ministers Ralph Gonsalves (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Roosevelt Skerrit (Dominica), and Gaston Browne (Antigua and Barbuda), among others.
teleSUR/ JF Sources: EFE – ALBA-TCP
