At the call of the Association France-Palestine Solidarité, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, Solidarité Palestine Toulouse and the Comité 31 du Mouvement de la Paix, around 50 people gathered at the exit of the Jean Jaurès metro station in Toulouse, France, on Tuesday, 11 July.
Participants in the demonstration included delegations from the CGT labour union, the Union Syndicale Solidaires, political parties like the NPA and the POI, anti-fascist, human rights and feminist organisations. This mobilization expressed its solidarity with the people and the resistance of Jenin in occupied Palestine following the Zionist assault that began on 3 July. The largest invasion since 2002, this attack included more than 150 armored vehicles and 1,000 ground troops, but was thwarted by Palestinian resistance, which forced the withdrawal of Israeli forces. This cost the lives of 12 martyrs in the occupied city and refugee camp of Jenin and caused more than 100 injuries as well as significant material damage and the displacement of thousands of people.
Emphasizing that solidarity with Jenin is in fact solidarity with the entire Palestinian people, several people held signs calling for the boycott of Israel, in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and Al Quds and for the liberation of the 5,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist jails, in particular freedom fighter and sick prisoner Walid Daqqah as well as national leader Ahmad Sa’adat and Lebanese communist Georges Abdallah, imprisoned in France since 1984.
Participants chanted slogans in support of Palestine such as “Jenin, Toulouse is with you,” and various speakers took the floor to express their commitment to the Palestinian people and their liberation. Loïc, a member of Solidarité Palestine Toulouse, intervened to denounce the complicity of Western powers who refuse to take action against the impunity of the Israeli occupation.
He called for the development of boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against Israel, like the mobilizations for the boycott of PUMA or against the presence of the Israel Premier Tech team in the Tour de France. An activist from Collectif Palestine Vaincra called for “building a popular anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist movement capable of boycotting and isolating the occupation regime and of severing the ties of military, political and economic cooperation with this apartheid regime…We must demand the removal of Palestinian organizations from the list of “terrorist” organizations of the European Union, because resisting colonialism, occupation and apartheid is not a crime but a duty!”
Maître Dominique Cochain, a lawyer at the Paris Bar, intervened to denounce the situation in occupied Palestine, in particular the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem and the intensification of colonization in the occupied West Bank with the presence of nearly 500,000 settlers.
She underlined the importance of developing the mobilization in Europe to confront these colonial crimes, particularly on the legal level. In this sense, she recalled the recent victories in the face of attempts to censor the Palestine solidarity movement by the pro-Israel lobby, in particular the condemnation of France by the European Court of Human Rights in June 2020, for its unjust prosecution of activists who called for a boycott of Israeli products.
Jean-François Tortajada, a member of the bureau of the Departmental Union of the CGT, also spoke about the CGT’s position in support of the Palestinian people in spite of the attacks against the trade union organization following the arrival of the French-Palestinian lawyer Palestinian Salah Hamouri at the CGT building in Toulouse. He reaffirmed the commitment of the CGT in support of the release of Georges Abdallah, expressed once again in an open letter addressed to French president Emmanuel Macron and co-signed by 14 national organizations.
Despite the scorching temperatures and the decision of the prefecture to move the location of the rally without any explanation at the last minute, this mobilization was a success, which demonstrates that solidarity with the Palestinian people is only growing more urgent. Around the world, many similar initiatives took place in support of Jenin and its resistance, notably in Paris, Clermont-Ferrand, Vancouver, Athens, Brussels, Seattle, New York, Albuquerue, Toronto, Gothenburg and Manchester.
The Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Network, regularly organizes information stands, Boycott Tours and various initiatives to support the Palestinian people in Toulouse. Do not hesitate to contact the Collectif if you wish to participate and to follow CPV on our various social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Telegram).
