Communists support Gaza

He told delegates at the party's biennial congress in London that they could not allow current media coverage of fighting in Gaza to ignore "the fundamental cause" of Palestine's denied right to self-determination.

Mainstream media had portrayed Israel's bombing and shelling of Gaza as a response to rockets fired over its walls by Hamas militants.

But Mr Griffiths said the root cause was still Israel's possession of around 90 per cent of land set aside for Palestinians at Israel's founding in 1948. He said: "For as long as this oppression - the greatest unresolved injustice of the 20th century - persists, there will be resistance."

• The following 25 people were elected to the new Communist Party executive committee: Richard Bagley, Ben Chacko, Andy Chaffer, Tony Conway, Mary Davis, Kevin Donnelly, John Foster, Moz Greenshields, Bill Greenshields, Robert Griffiths, Tim Gulliver, Anita Halpin, John Haylett, Steve Johnson, Carolyn Jones, Martin Levy, Gawain Little, Marc Livingstone, Tommy Morrison, Liz Payne, Ben Stevenson, Graham Stevenson, Joanne Stevenson, Jenny Turner, Anita Wright.