UPDATE: As of 6 August 2022, there are now 24 martyrs and 290 injured due to the occupation attacks.
Israeli occupation forces have once again launched a military aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This aggression has already taken the lives of 9 martyrs of the Palestinian cause — including a 5-year-old girl and senior leader of the Palestnian Islamic Jihad resistance movement, Tayseer al-Jabari — and wounded 55. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of the Palestinian cause to take action to defend Palestine, the Palestinian people and their Resistance against the Zionist onslaught.
This attack on Gaza specifically comes hand in hand with a series of arrest raids and assassinations targeting Palestinians throughout occupied Palestine, and specifically the arrest of fellow leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, Bassam al-Saadi in Jenin, in which occupation forces killed 17-year old Dirar al-Kafrini. Al-Saadi was beaten during the attack and taken to a hospital before occupation forces posted photos of his wounded face.
For the past several days, Israeli politicians, analysts and Zionist media have been rampant with speculation, especially as the settlements around Gaza have been under curfew, that the response of the Palestinian resistance could undercut the occupation’s ability to arrest and attack Palestinian leaders freely without repercussions. Amid upcoming Israeli elections and internal political chaos among Zionist forces, an assault on Gaza gives current prime minister Yair Lapid and war minister Benny Gantz the opportunity to “campaign” for votes through aggression against the Palestinian people.
The Israeli occupation is calling this aggression an attack on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, but in reality, it is an attack on the entire Palestinian people — in Gaza, throughout occupied Palestine from the river to the sea — and their comprehensive resistance in all forms. Of course, the Palestinian people in Gaza are over 70% refugees, denied their right to return home for 75 years. The Palestinian people and their resistance are unified in confronting this assault and struggling for liberation.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all friends and supporters of Palestine to join together in standing with besieged Gaza, the Palestinian people and their resistance throughout occupied Palestine and in exile and diaspora. As the Masar Badil statement urged, “We call on all to immediately start organizing mass, political and media events in all locations in the diaspora and around the world in order to defend our steadfast Palestinian people against the Zionist aggression and its ongoing tightening of the siege on the Gaza Strip.”
It is clear that the United States, Canada, the European Union countries, Britain and other imperialist powers are fully responsible for the crimes of the occupation, providing it with the weaponry that has been used to commit these killings, and has enabled the ongoing Nakba targeting the Palestinian people for the past 75 years, providing it with military, political, economic and diplomatic support. Rather than recognizing the Palestinian resistance’s legitimacy, these imperialist powers target the resistance organizations with “terrorist designations” and repression. This makes it more urgent for our movements to declare collectively: Resistance is not terror! As we take to the streets and mobilize to stand with the Palestinian people and their resistance, we urge all to take the following actions:
1. Mobilize actions, demonstrations and creative interventions – Take to the streets to defend the Palestinian people and their resistance! As was made clear during the Unity Intifada/Seif al-Quds in May 2021, there is a vast depth of support for the Palestinian people everywhere around the world, including inside the imperialist powers. It is our responsibility to act and make it impossible to continue their support for the crimes against the Palestinian people.
2. Build the boycott of Israel – This is a critical moment to escalate the campaign to isolate the Israeli regime at all levels, including through boycott campaigns that target the occupation’s economic exploitation of the Palestinian land, people and resources as well as those international corporations, like HP and G4S, that profit from the ongoing colonization of Palestine.
3. Support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people – This aggression is an extension of the siege on Gaza that has been imposed on the resisting and steadfast Strip for over 15 years. At this time, it is important to provide economic and practical support at a popular level to sustain the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in confronting these crimes. To contribute to Samidoun’s drive in support of children’s health care in Gaza, make a donation at https://samidoun.net/gaza
