Zanu-PF pledges support to Palestine

Zanu-PF has pledged support to the State of Palestine on its struggle of freedom against the Israeli apartheid occupation of the West Bank and Gaza since 1967.

Speaking at the conference of all Palestine Solidarity Conferences in Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF Secretary for External Affairs Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said they rendered their support to the Palestinian people.

"We assure them that Zanu-PF will always render their support to the best of our ability and we will never retreat no matter what," he said.

"In any revolutionary struggle, solidarity is an essential ingredient because it takes many forms. It can be moral; it can be material, but solidarity is essential to any revolutionary struggle. For us here in Zimbabwe, it is more important and more significant because we ourselves are a direct product of solidarity.

"In 1963 at the creation of Zanu we declared our policy as freedom through confrontation.

"What we are actually saying was that we had decided to embark on the armed struggle to liberate our country, but at that time we did not have a single gun, but that was our declaration that we are now going to the armed struggle."

Mumbengegwi said they were registering Zanu-PF as part of the worldwide network of solidarity organisations and movements supporting the total victory of the Palestinian people.

"It was true solidarity at various levels that we were able to get the essential weaponry, diplomatic support and political support that developed into a vibrant and successful liberation struggle which subdued an enemy who had declared that they would remain in power for a thousand years," he said.

"As we gather here as Zimbabweans, we support the liberation struggle of Palestine. We are, in fact, enlisting ourselves as part of that worldwide network of solidarity organisations and movements which together will develop into a force that in the end will lead to the total victory of the Palestinian people. We all know that the whole of progressive humanity is fully behind the struggle of the Palestinian people."

Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, Christopher Mutsvangwa, said the party fully subscribed to the resolutions supporting Palestinians.

"They capture this moment in the struggle of the people of Palestine," Mutsvangwa said.

"They are another weapon in the information of war to support our Palestinian friends that when they are struggling daily against apartheid, violence, killing of journalists, blockades and them having the ability to trade, we know that they know that they have the people of Zimbabwe as their supporters in Africa.

"We call upon the international communities to be steadfast in their commitment to make sure that the two-state solution is achieved with the Palestinians enjoying what is theirs."

Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Webster Shamu, said Palestinian people were guaranteed of the Zimbabwean support.

"We will continue to support Palestine in their quest for independence," he said. "The Palestinian struggle has been there for a long period and we are supporting them in their pursuit for freedom."

Ambassador of Palestine to Zimbabwe Mr Tamer Almassri thanked Zimbabweans for their continued support and for standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

"Allow me to thank Zimbabwe, the leadership led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Cabinet, the ruling party and the people of Zimbabwe for their support and solidarity with the Palestinian people," he said.

"They are calling all the time for the end of the Israeli apartheid occupation of Palestine. Our embassy and our leadership in Palestine does not and will not ignore paying the solidarity with the people and the leadership of Zimbabwe against the illegal sanctions.

"We are proud of all the solidarity and support that we are getting from Zimbabwe to the Palestinian national movement against the Israeli apartheid occupation."