According to the Palestinian Authority, since the year 2000, some 1500 children have been killed by Israeli forces in occupied Palestine, to say nothing of the others killed in previous years. This one sided killing spree, is claiming more child victims daily as Israel remorselessly currently targets built up population centres in Gaza and the West Bank, with its overpowering military might.

In response to these and other atrocities and the racist policies of the Israeli state, on Sunday 6th July 2014 the group “Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine” [CAAP], was formed in Barbados, in solidarity with the Palestinian people who have been the victims of this racist colonialism and apartheid for over seven decades, with hundreds of thousands displaced from their homeland, and countless thousands killed.

“We in the Caribbean cannot morally condemn the previous apartheid regime in South Africa, while condoning the on-going murderous apartheid in existence in Palestine” Mr. Lalu Hanuman, Attorney-at-law and Secretary of the newly formed CAAP said in an exclusive comment. He went on to quote the late President Nelson Mandela who had said in his address on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in Pretoria, on the 4th December 1997: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians“.

The group, which is part of a global movement in support of the Palestinian people, is troubled that while the United Nations General Assembly recognised Palestine as a non-member state in 2010, Barbados to its great discredit, was one of the few countries to abstain on the UN vote.

In light of the above, and the historic and current atrocities being committed, the CAAP’s main objectives are to raise awareness in the Caribbean about the Palestinian reality; lobby the Governments of the region on behalf of Palestinians; promote the boycott of Israeli products and sporting, political, cultural, and academic ties between Israel and the Caribbean; support the Palestinians’ legitimate quest for self-determination via solidarity actions; and, the building of global links with other Palestinian solidarity groups. The group intends to achieve its objectives through the publishing of articles in the media; the organising of public meetings and film shows; engagement in debates and discussions with various local groups; and to invite informed international speakers to the region to facilitate the better understanding of the Palestinian reality, and to highlight how war crimes committed with total impunity by Israel, with mainly Western supplied armaments, have had negative ramifications for all of us, not least through heightened global security concerns.