This online article was published on Facebook by afoa on 27/04/26.

Positions on Palestine

As the genocide against the Palestinian people continues and with the stage of siege in Gaza and West Bank deepening by the day, afoa’s Circle on Palestine posits eight political guidelines on the issue and on our responsibility as people and communities living in Cyprus. These are largely the result of the political work and the collective educational discussions that our community engaged the past two and a half years – always in dialogue, cooperation and interaction with other pro-Palestinian organisations from Cyprus and abroad.

Eight basic positions on the Palestinian Issue and three political demands from Cyprus:

1. We support the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and their choice to freely determine a just and sustainable solution for their people.
2. We condemn the expulsion of Palestinians from Palestinian lands in 1948 (Nakba) and recognize that Palestinians continue to struggle for their survival to this day.
3. We oppose the Israeli occupation, the ongoing settler-colonial project, and the apartheid regime implemented by Israel. We condemn the policies and structures that sustain colonial domination, segregation, and the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people. We also recognize that the State of Israel produces — and exports — authoritarian technologies and practices of surveillance, militarization, and repression, contributing to the suppression and control of peoples internationally.
4. We support the Palestinians’ right to resist systematic and brutal oppression and occupation. Our solidarity includes support for the popular, political, and organized struggle for freedom. At the same time, we condemn any form of violence against civilians regardless of origin.
5. We oppose Zionism as a colonial, ethno‑nationalist project that presupposes and seeks the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and other groups in order to establish and expand a purely Jewish state, the “Greater Israel.”
6. We are also opposed to antisemitism and Islamophobia and to every form of racism and prejudice. We recognize, at the same time, that Israel instrumentalizes Jewish identity and the Holocaust to justify the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, which puts also millions of Jews worldwide in danger.
7. We recognize the internationalist character of the resistance: we support the global solidarity movement for the Palestinians, which is mainly developed by grassroots movements, organizations, and collectives with a distinctly leftist/radical orientation (while also welcoming the diverse range of solidarity). We consider the struggle for Palestine to be part of a global resistance against capital, imperialism, settler-colonialism, racism, patriarchy, ecological destruction, and other structures of power, exploitation, and oppression. We support the struggles of popular movements and workers and call for immediate forms of international solidarity (mass protests and political civil disobedience, collective campaigns and missions, labor strikes, product boycotts, etc.).
8. We also support the international BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), which began in 2005 by a coalition of more than 170 Palestinian civil society organizations, including labor unions, which calls for:

1. End of the occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall
2. Recognition of the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respect, protection, and promotion of the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

As residents of Cyprus we recognize the complicity of the Republic of Cyprus in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians and demand the immediate end of any form of cooperation with Israel.

• We demand an end to the political, military, and economic relations between the Republic of Cyprus and Israel.
• We demand the immediate withdrawal of all forms of military and diplomatic assistance from the Republic of Cyprus to Israel.
• We call for a complete embargo on the trade of arms and other materials for military use (including fuel) to Israel.