On Saturday, 12 September, Boykot Israel – DK commemorated the Sabra and Shatila massacres with a memorial event that has been organized for 18 years in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Convened under the slogan “We will never forget the Sabra and Shatila massacres!” the Boykot Israel event began in the Solidaritetshuset (Solidarity House) in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen.
The event started with a solidarity dinner of Palestinian food, accompanied by a short presentation on the massacres in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut in 1982, followed by a lively discussion.
After the presentation, activists proceeded through the streets of Nørrebro with torches, banners and signs, calling out “Boycott Israel – Free Palestine!” while distributing hundreds of flyers to passers-by and guests at cafes in the area. They received a strongly positive response from people on the streets.
Irene Clausen of Internationalt Forum and Boykot Israel noted that the event has been taking place annually in Copenhagen since 2002, recalling: “Boykot Israel was formed in April 2002. At that time, it was a big issue in the Palestine solidarity movement that the Belgian supreme court may hear a case against the former Israeli defense minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes because of his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacres, on behalf of Palestinian victims from those massacres living in Belgium.”
“The new Boykot Israel campaign, together with another group, Palestina Initiativet, invited the Belgian lawyer Luc Walleyn to a public meeting in Copenhagen on the case in Belgium against Ariel Sharon. This meeting raised widespread public interest,” she noted.
“Through this meeting in Copenhagen with the Belgian lawyer, where a Palestinian victim from Sabra and Shatila also participated, we learned about the atrocities of Israel against the Palestinians. And to us in Boykot Israel, the Sabra and Shatila massacres became a symbol of Israeli violence, colonization and apartheid, and our annual Meetings commemorating Sabra and Shatila also illustrate the continuity of our solidarity work through 18 years.”
“Unfortunately, the Belgian state came under heavy pressure ‘from outside’ and changed their legislation so that the case against Sharon was withdrawn. However, the boycott of Israel continues as long as there is Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid,” she concluded.
