A protest rally was organized on 19 May in Clermont-Ferrand France, marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, in support of Palestinians in Gaza organizing the Great March of Return and calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Photo: Palestine 63 Solidarite
The protest also came in response to Israeli massacres, in which the Israeli army killed over 100 Palestinians and wounded 10,000, including many serious leg injuries, since 30 March. The Israeli army fired on peaceful protesters marching in Gaza for their right to return, 70 years after the 1948 Nakba, and in protest of Israeli colonization and apartheid in Palestine.
Photo: Palestine 63 Solidarite
Après une chaîne humaine, la manifestation en solidarité des morts palestiniens part de la place de Jaude pour rejoindre la place de la Victoire. Aux cris de « Israël Assasin, Macron Complice » #Palestinepic.twitter.com/T0AzGMqg7s
— France Bleu Pays d'Auvergne (@FBAuvergne) May 19, 2018
The protest was called by 36 organizations and began at 3:00 pm with a large human chain with keffiyehs. Over 1,000 people joined the march through the downtown area before the demonstration re-convened in the Place de la Victoire.
The demonstrators posted a sign renaming the square, Place de la Nakba, before children released 70 balloons to commemorate the Nakba.
Photo: Ademar Aton
Speakers presented the history of the Nakba and called for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, emphasizing the importance of collective action for BDS and an arms embargo on Israel as a means of supporting the Palestinian struggle. The event was joined by three elected officials in the area and received media coverage from several local mainstream outlets.
Free Palestine – Stop the Killing – Stop Arming Israel
5.30pm. Assemble Opposite Number 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London – March to Old Palace Yard.
Organised by: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Muslim Association of Britain.
Supported by: Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Europal Forum
Join us on this National day of solidarity actions for the Great Return March in Palestine, with events around the country.
Please bring Keys with you to symbolise the Nakba and the Right of Return.
With respect and in line with the decision of the organisers of the Great Return March in Palestine, to demonstrate full unity, we would like to ask everybody to bring Palestinian flags only.
Join us to picket the Jewish National Fund Dinner which is celebrating the “70th anniversary of the state of Israel”. The racist and discriminatory policies of the JNF have been well documented and are of particular concern here in Canada due to the creation of “Canada Park” on the ruins of 3 Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.
As in previous years, the JNF is attempting to hide its policies and history behind a charitable project, this time to “Help Improve the Lives of Children with Disabilities”. The grotesque irony of this particular project at this time, as Israeli snipers maim and disable hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, including children, doesn’t seem to bother the $300/ticket gala-goers. UNICEF stated on May 16, 2018, that “since 30 March 2018, over 1,000 children have been injured in violence in the Gaza Strip. Many of these injuries are severe and potentially life-altering, including some resulting in amputations.”
Call on the Canadian Government to revoke the tax deductible status for the JNF, and stop being complicit in these WAR CRIMES.
Stop maiming Palestinian children.
No to 70 years of celebrating Palestinian dispossession!
No to “greenwashing” ethnic cleansing.
Groups wishing to endorse the action, please email cpavancouver@gmail.com or message this page.
#Nakba70 We are delighted to announce that the International revolutionary icon Leila Khaled, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, will address a meeting in Dublin on June 3rd via Video link.
The meeting has been organised by Anti Imperialist Action Ireland and Lasair Dhearg in solidarity with the PFLP, the Palestinian People, the ongoing Palestinian Struggle and the #GreatMarchofReturn
This event is not to be missed and is an important opportunity to hear the story of #Nakba70 from someone who lived through it.
Come along and hear very Latest update on the situation in Palestine, directly from one of the leading figures of the struggle for national liberation and socialism.
Translated from the French post at Coup Pour Coup 31, an anti-imperialist collective based in Toulouse and a member organization of the Samidoun Network:
Photo: Coup Pour Coup 31
Over 200 people gathered near the Chamber of Commerce in Place Esquirol in Toulouse to protest the presence of the Israeli ambassador, Aliza Bin-Noun, at a gala event promoting trade with the Israeli state on Wednesday, 23 May. The event was surrounded by numerous police vans and security buses that did not hesitate to use tear gas against protesters denouncing the appearance of Aliza Bin-Noun, declaring she is unwelcome in Toulouse.
For over an hour, participants chanted continuously in support of the Palestinian people, including, “Boycott Israel!” “Viva l’Intifada!” and “Israel assassin! Moudenc complice!” Jean-Luc Moudenc is the mayor of Toulouse, who attended the gala event.
Photo: Campagne BDS Toulouse
The demonstration included Coup Pour Coup 31 and a number of organizations, including BDS Toulouse, AFPS, the Toulouse Palestinian Association, Attac, the Toulouse Students’ Union, the French Jewish Union for Peace, CGT Educ’Action, SUD Social Health, OCML Voie Proletarienne, the French Communist Party and the New Anticapitalist Party as well as the 2018: La Temps du Palestine Initiative.
Photo: Coup Pour Coup 31
Below is the speech given by Coup Pour Coup 31 at the end of the demonstration:
Aliza Bin-Noun, ambassador of colonialism, racism and apartheid, you are not welcome in Toulouse!
Shame on Moudenc and the officials of the Chamber of Commerce for holding this gala!
Today, Toulouse hosts a war criminal just days after the massacres in Gaza that killed 112 Palestinian civilians and wounded 13,190. Today, the officials of the Chamber of Commerce and the city show in which camp they stand – that of colonialism, racism and apartheid!
Shame on Macron, who has announced that he will host Netanyahu on 5 June to launch the “France-Israel season!” A season of promotion of the Zionist state in France.
70 years after the Nakba, we, the anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31, reject all normalization with Israel. 70 years later, this state has in no way become legitimate! And in the forefront, we support the Palestinian resistance, fighting for its national and social rights and for the liberation, all of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
70 years after the Nakba, French imperialism shows once again that it needs its Zionist front in the region – the French state that criminalizes the BDS campaign and has imprisoned the Arab Communist and Palestinian liberation struggler Georges Abdallah since 1984.
We demand the break of all political, economic and diplomatic relations with the Zionist state! Support the Palestinian resistance and build the resistance against French imperialism here!
Filipino organizations led by the International League of Peoples’ Struggles – Philippines Chapter and the Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association (PPFA) gathered on May 15, 2018 to condemn the brutal killings of at least 58 Palestinian individuals and more than 2,000 wounded perpetrated by Israeli armed forces in the Gaza Strip.
Rev. Alan Sarte, ILPS-Philippines General Secretary denounced the massacre saying “it is appalling to hear that on the eve of the 70th year of Nakba, another catastrophe has befallen the Palestinians in their struggle for the recognition of their right to return to their own lands.” Nakba, the Palestinian term for catastrophe, occurred originally in May 15, 1948 when more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced to flee from their homes by Israel Zionists. Since then, the Israeli government has prevented them from returning.
He described yesterday’s events in Gaza as “the deadliest single day of protest in the weeks-long struggle of the Palestinian people dubbed as the Great March of Return.” The Great March of Return was launched last March 30 by Palestinians demanding that their refugees and descendants be allowed to return to their original lands. They also protested the moves of the U.S. to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, a supposedly neutral territory for Israel and Palestine recognized by international conventions.
“Since the start of the Great March of Return, Israeli armed forces have been using lethal force to suppress the Palestinian protest. But what occurred yesterday is simply an overkill,” Sarte added. “What they did will only heighten the resolve of the Palestinian people.”
“History will never forget that the hands of U.S. President Trump and Israel Prime Minister are now stained with the blood of Palestinians. They have further unmasked themselves as the real terrorists in this world and has added another platform of unity for oppressed peoples all over the world,” he concluded.
Amira Lidasan of Moro-Christian Peoples’ Alliance expressed solidarity with the Palestinian protesters, saying that Palestinians and indigenous peoples in Mindanao too face the same struggles against land occupation, militarism, and imperialism.
“The Maranaos of Mindanao are also experiencing forced dislocation, harassment, and killings under the Martial Rule imposed by the US-puppet regime of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. We too are launching our own Great March of Return to reclaim our homes, defend our rights, and assert our self-determination and sovereignty.”
Rita Baua of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan meanwhile emphasized that the struggle of Palestinians for freedom and self-determination are part of the global struggle against imperialism and must be supported by all Filipino patriotic forces.
“The victory of the Palestinian struggle for national liberation will be a heavy blow to US imperialism in the Middle East region and will further weaken US imperialism’s global hegemony. Thus it is in the Filipino peoples’ interest to see the defeat of Israeli Apartheid State that is US imperialism’s most dependable ally in the Middle East,” according to Baua.
Shortly following the forum, participants held a mass action along EDSA, Quezon City. Leaders from different mass organizations gave solidarity speeches, including from Jerome Succor Aba, a Moro activist who was scheduled for a speaking tour in the US about the human rights situation in the Philippines but was arbitrarily detained, tortured, and deported by US immigration officials.
“We in Suara Bangsamoro denounce the lethal use of force against non-violent Palestinian protesters that left more than 50 dead and many more wounded. What we witnessed today is a horrible reprise of the massacre of Palestinians by Israeli troops that happened 70 years ago.
We hold the US accountable for backing the crimes committed by the Zionist government of Israel, instigating atrocities across Arab nations and in Mindanao. I have witnessed first-hand US’ cold-blooded treatment of individuals and groups they deem as barriers to their imperialist expansion when I have been tortured and illegal detained for 28 hours at the San Francisco International Airport”, said Aba.
Ivan Enrile, PPFA Campaign Coordinator, stated that “the continued complicity of the Israeli and U.S. governments has further fueled the conflicts in the region. Their actions are instigating violence at the expense of civilian lives. This has been their mantra for decades and has to stop immediately.”
In condemnation, ILPS-Philippines and PPFA burned a joint flag of U.S. and Israel symbolizing the collusion between the two.
Enrile vowed that Filipinos will continue to support the Palestinians in their struggle and denounce further actions by the U.S. and Zionist Israel forces to escalate tensions in the area. “Rest assured, this unjust war brought about by U.S. and Israel actions will only be met with wider and stronger opposition.”
Kilusang Mayo Uno (May One Movement)
Justice and Freedom for the People of Palestine! Israel, puppet state of the US, butcher of Palestinians! End Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza!
Filipino workers condemn US and Israel for the massacre of Palestinians fighting for national liberation!
Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement), the Philippines’ anti-imperialist labor center, vehemently condemns the massacre of protesting Palestinians by the US-backed and Zionist-run government of Israel on May 14. Even as we mourn this tragedy, we hail the over 50 killed and 1,300 injured Palestinians as heroes of the tenacious struggle of the Palestinian people for national and social liberation.
This massacre is only the latest and most outrageous addition to the long list of crimes committed by the US and Israel against the Palestinian people, who have every right to hold a peaceful protest against the US embassy’s transfer from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Israeli government has embraced the move as recognition by the US of Israel’s claim to Jerusalem – an outright insult on the Palestinian people’s claim on the same territory.
The protest also marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, which led to the displacement, marginalization, and brutal colonization of the Palestinian people, with the full support of the US and other imperialist powers. The massacre is part of the 70-year history of violence and genocide which is being inflicted by the US and Israel, and which has already killed millions of Palestinians.
We are disgusted by the arrogance of the US in trying to block the United Nations’ investigation into the massacre, which demonstrates their continuing determination to cover up the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli Zionist government using American funds, intelligence, and weapons.
The Israeli occupation of Palestine should end now. US support for the murderous Israeli state should be terminated immediately. We support the Palestinian people’s struggle for national and social liberation. Peace in Palestine and the Middle East could only be attained with the end of US and Israel’s dominance in the region and the respect for the oppressed peoples’ right to self-determination and liberation.
Indeed, the massacre reflects the US policy of supporting state fascism and violence against people struggling for national and social liberation, whether in India, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, or other countries.
The bankruptcy of US foreign policy, especially under the leadership of Donald Trump, is a challenge to the countries of the world to oppose the wars of aggression and plunder being carried out by US imperialism. We call on all movements, political parties, countries and international coalitions in the world to condemn the massacre and the heightening militarism and violence being imposed on the people of Palestine. We stand with all the workers and peoples of the world in intensifying our revolutionary struggles against US imperialism and its allies, and in struggling for a world where peace, justice, sovereignty and democracy reign.
Justice and freedom for the people of Palestine!
US imperialist, No. 1 terrorist!
Israel, puppet state of the US, butcher of Palestinians!
End Israeli occupation of Gaza and Palestine!
PCFS and APC firmly stand with the people of Palestine, strongly support the “Great Return March”
May 14, 2018
The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) firmly stand with the Palestinian people in their global campaign to return to Palestine.
We join the Palestinian people and people of the world in commemorating the 70th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine. Some 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their native towns and villages prior, during and after Israel’s so-called declaration of independence on May 15, 1948. Today, there are over 12 million Palestinians worldwide (of which 5.4 million are refugees), who regard Israel’s independence day as the Nakba – or the “catastrophe”.
Both Coalitions support the struggle of the Palestinian people as a rightful assertion for food sovereignty. The past seven decades saw hunger and poverty plaguing Palestine due to the Israeli government’s economic restrictions on their access, especially to land and food. It is high time to end the Zionist rule that have deprived the Palestinian people their land and life.
Last March 30, the Israeli army opened fired and killed at least 34 unarmed Palestinians and wounded 1,400 others during a peaceful demonstration along the Gaza-Israel border for the launch of the six-week “Great Return March”. Just hours before, a Palestinian farmer was also killed by artillery fire from Israel. We decry these acts as an escalation of the war crimes of Israel as it continues its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.
To date since then, the Zionist attacks have incurred the following casualties among the Palestinian marchers: 49 martyrs including children and two journalists; 9,545 injured including 900 children, 400 women, 200 medical staff, and 110 journalists, 24 of which were amputations.US imperialism’s and Israel’s attempt to wipe out the Palestinian history of Jerusalem is the height of the Zionist policy of occupation, apartheid, and land grabbing in Palestine. The already tense situation further increased when Trump declared Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. We do not recognize Israel’s claim to the entire city.
We also denounce the move to set up/relocate embassies in Jerusalem, led by US President Donald Trump. This is a blatant disregard for the Palestinian peoples’ rights and international humanitarian laws in relation with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
We are with the people of Palestine who resist US imperialism and the ills it brought to their country. We condemn the US counterinsurgency programs and the Israeli government that brand Palestinian activists and freedom fighters as terrorists to legitimize violations of their human rights and of international humanitarian laws.
The Great Return March is a series of protests from March 30 in commemoration of 42nd Land Day, up to May 15 in observance of Nakba. Land Day marks the same day on 1976 when six unarmed Palestinians defending their lands against Israeli takeover were killed. Nakba, meanwhile, commemorates the same day on 1948 when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their lands to Israeli invasion.
We call on all member organizations of the PCFS and APC to support the Great Return March campaign and conduct actions and activities that demonstrate strong solidarity with the Palestinian people. We call on all network organizations of the PCFS and APC to continuously support the Palestinian people in their just struggle against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.
Support Palestinians’ fight for land!
End the Zionist occupation!
Long live International Solidarity!
Youth4FoodSov
May 14, 2018
On the occasion of the 70th Nakba, Youth for Food Sovereignty (YFS) reiterates its support to the Palestinian people fighting for their right to return. We most urgently demand an end to the killing and violence the Israel Defense Force (IDF) has been doing against the Great March protesters for several weeks now. They have killed at least 50 and wounded more than 2,000 now.
YFS strongly condemns the Zionist state of Israel for perpetuating such terrorist acts against the Palestinian people. We condemn the US government and its president Donald Trump for consistently providing material and political support to Zionist Israel, such as the relocation of its embassy in Jerusalem. We likewise condemn the complicity, silence, and disregard of various governments and international bodies towards the IDF’s massacre of the Great March protesters.
We call on everyone who values peace, justice, and democracy to join in demanding an end to the killing of the Great March protesters, and ultimately the attainment of the Palestinian people’s right to return.
International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS)
Asia Pacific Chapter
15 May 2018
US and Israel: No. 1 Terrorists!
We in the ILPS Asia Pacific Chapter denounce in the strongest possible terms the U.S. and Israel for the bloody massacre of at least 58 Palestinians protesting the U.S. Embassy transfer to Jerusalem. Over the past six weeks, over 40 Palestinians have already been killed and thousands wounded in a vain attempt to suppress the Palestinian Great Return March. No amount of bullets and live fire can stop them.
History will not forget this barbaric act. The U.S. and Israel will pay for their crimes against Palestinians, Arab peoples and humanity. The unjust war that the U.S. and Israel are waging in West Asia and the rest of the world shall be met with stronger, wider, and more resolute resistance.
We call on all ILPS affiliates for protest actions across the globe in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation against U.S. and Israel occupation and aggression.
Blood is in the hands of Trump and Netanyahu. They are the real terrorists. They deserve the condemnation of the world’s peoples. #
ILPS CONDEMNS CANADA’S ONGOING COMPLICITY IN THE EXPULSION OF PALESTINIANS
May 15, 2018
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) in Canada condemns in the strongest terms possible the Trudeau government’s ongoing support for US-Zionist imperialism in Palestine on this the 70th Anniversary of the Nakba.
Nakba Day or “Day of the Catastrophe” is commemorated every May 15 to remember the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians from their lands and villages and to celebrate the resiliency and resistance of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants who continue to struggle for their right to return to their homeland.
For the past seven decades the Zionist state of Israel has continued a policy of ethnically cleansing the indigenous Palestinian population from their homeland while simultaneously cultivating the myth of a “democratic beachhead’ in the Middle East.
Since the foundation of Israel, successive Canadian governments have been complicit in the theft of Palestinian land, the implementation of Israeli Apartheid and the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people in the Middle East.
Canadian diplomats Lester Pearson and Supreme Court Justice Ivan Rand were architects of the UN Plan to Partition Palestine. Canada has provided support and charitable status to the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a key institution in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian lands. Canada has supported the Zionist State diplomatically – it was the first country after Israel to impose sanctions against the Palestinian Authority in 2006 in an attempt to sow division among the Palestinian political factions.
Canada has quietly supported the building of the Wall that divides Palestinian communities and lands and further encourages settlement. While Israel has continued to build illegal settlements furthering the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Canada has actively tried to prevent the sanction of these activities. In 2009 Canada was to sole country to oppose UN Human Rights Council actions against continued settlement activity and the violation of Palestinian rights.
In 2006, when Israel put the entire Gaza strip on a “diet” that restricted the daily caloric intake of food supplies entering the West Bank to starvation levels, Canada said it was a “measured response”. And while Israeli occupation forces this year have murdered 49 unarmed protesters, including 6 journalists, during the Gaza March of Return, Canada has said nothing about these crimes against humanity.
Whenever Palestinians stand up and oppose the occupation, the ethnic cleansing and the collective punishment, Canada has joined with the US to provide a pass on the most barbaric acts and gross human rights violations. Critiques of the Israeli Apartheid regime are now routinely labeled anti-Semitic, Israel’s justification for any sins.
Nonetheless, support for Palestine and Palestinian human rights is growing in Canada. A growing number of people are joining the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, despite efforts by various levels of the Canadian State to repress, condemn and de-legitimize the movement.
It is Israel itself that has become illegitimate in the eyes of the people of the world, as the courageous resistance and struggles of the Palestinian people has exposed it as nothing but a murderous tool of imperialism.
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) expresses its solidarity and support with the peoples of Palestine. We stand with Palestinian refugees and their descendants struggling for their right of return. We stand with Palestinian prisoners who continue to organize and speak out even from the depths of the occupation dungeons. We stand for the liberation of Palestine!
Oppose US-Zionist Imperialism!
Oppose Canada’s shameful support of Israel!
No to Settler Colonialism in Palestine!
Withdraw charitable status from the land-stealing Jewish National Fund!
Free all Palestinian political prisoners!
Support the Right of Return for all Palestinian Refugees!
From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!
New Yorkers gathered in a series of protests to commemorate the 70th anniversary of al-Nakba, support the Great Return March of Palestinians in Gaza and express their anger and outrage at the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation army that have taken over 112 Palestinian lives and wounded thousands since 30 March. On Friday, 18 May, over 800 people gathered in Times Square for a march and rally organized by the NY4Palestine Coalition to express their support for the Palestinian people’s struggle for return and liberation.
Organized by the NY4Palestine Coalition, participating organizations included Within Our Lifetime – United For Palestine, Al-Awda – Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, American Muslims for Palestine, International Action Center, Labor for Palestine, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, the Muslim American Society and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.
Participants in the demonstration included many members of the Palestinian community in New York, organizations and movements in solidarity with Palestine including Black Liberation Movement organizations, Kashmiri groups and Filipino movements, and the Orthodox Jewish Neturei Karta movement. Participants carried signs demanding freedom for all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, and freedom for Palestinian prisoners, including Ahed Tamimi, Ahmad Sa’adat and Khalida Jarrar.
“We condemn moving the embassy moving to Al-Quds and we condemn wherever the U.S. Embassy would be, because all Palestine is Palestinian land – from the river to the sea! We support the right of all Palestinians resisting the illegal siege by Israel during the great return march. And our final demand, from the belly of the beast, from one of the most powerful countries on Earth, if not the most, that continues to fund Israel and makes it possible to continue murder Palestinians, the United States of America. We demand an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel,” said Nerdeen Kiswani of WOL, speaking from the stage at the back of a truck in Times Square.
Joe Catron, Samidoun’s U.S. coordinator, spoke on behalf of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, urging people in New York and elsewhere to be part of the global Great March of Return on 5 June. The anniversary of the 1967 occupation is the next day that has been set by the leadership of the Great Return March in Gaza for mobilization and protest at the colonially-imposed 1948 armistice line between the Gaza Strip and the Israeli occupation.
The rally at Times Square culminated in a march to the Israeli Consulate, where speakers urged all to continue to participate and step up the level of organizing for Palestinian liberation and return.
The Friday demonstration was followed on Monday, 21 May with a People’s Monday gathering in Grand Central Terminal organized by NYC Shut It Down. NYC Shut it Down, part of the Black Lives Matter Movement, organizes weekly Monday protests that highlight victims of police and state violence and repression.
This week, they dedicated their demonstration to Yaser Murtaja, the Palestinian journalist killed on 6 April by Israeli occupation forces as he filmed Palestinians participating in the Great Return March.
Palestine activists from various groups, including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, joined NYC Shut it Down organizers for the protest, which included signs bearing key facts about Yaser Murtaja as well as images of his face.
The protesters chanted slogans and delivered speeches in a call-and-response or “general assembly” style that allowed their voices to echo throughout the station, demanding justice for Murtaja, the Palestinian people and Black people targeted by police.
Crowds of police followed the protesters as they entered Grand Central Cafe to speak about Murtaja, attempting to discourage diners from interacting with the protesters.
The protesters marched outside the station to the streets and took their message to Bryant Park and Times Square, confronting attempted police suppression of the protest and a heavy NYPD presence the entire way. The protest concluded with words from Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and protect each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
These events followed a protest one week earlier, also organized by the NY4Palestine coalition of which Samidoun is a part, in the heart of New York’s Palestinian and Arab community in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. 400 people took to the streets of Bay Ridge following the Israeli massacre on Gaza on 14 May for the first of the planned series of events to commemorate 70 years of ongoing Nakba and support the Palestinian struggle for return and liberation.
Photo: Greg Butterfield
Over three hours of marching through the community, the organizers read out the names of the 61 martyrs whose lives were taken that day as they marched for return in Gaza. “It was a moment when everyone felt, we are also part of the great return March, and we are making our way home,” said Kiswani of WOL.
Photo: Greg Butterfield
The march and rally was large and spirited, including Nakba survivors recalling their experiences, Palestinian youth pledging to continue their multi-generational struggle until liberation and solidarity organizers and movements from various communities committed to Palestinian freedom. The demonstration received widespread support from local organizations, residents and community members.
Photo: Nerdeen Kiswani
Additional events also took place throughout the week in New York City to stand with Palestine and denounce the Israeli massacres. On 16 May, Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews Say No!, joined by activists from many groups, including Samidoun organizers, held a demonstration outside the offices of U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. The participants denounced the senators’ support for the Israeli state and its 70 years of violence, oppression and racism targeting the Palestinian people, especially following the massacre in Gaza on 14 May and the repeated murderous attacks on the Great Return March.
70 years after the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the Nakba, Manchester Boycott Israel Group – Victory to Palestine! presents an afternoon of classic films dedicated to supporting the existence and resistance of the Palestinian people. For all of its weaponry, political power and imperialist backing, Israel has failed in erasing the spirit of resistance of those it has occupied and expelled. Join us in learning of this history and ongoing fight for justice through four classic films:
– The Great Book Robbery (2012) – made by pro-Palestinian filmmaker Benny Brunner, this documentary shows the intellectual and cultural theft that took place during and after the Nakba, and shows what happens when a Palestinian refugee attempts to return to her home. (48 mins)
– The Palestinians (1975) – Starting from the theoretical legitimacy of the Zionist project, its colonial implementation and, most crucially, economically opportunistic backing, the director delivers a nuanced account of the complexities surrounding the ‘Palestinian issue’, touching most vitally on the global interests and fluxes of oil, in whose name one people is displaced and persecuted while another is hypocritically ‘defended’. (44 mins)
– “A conversation between the sword and the neck” – a short film featuring Palestinian novellist and revolutionary Ghassan Kanafani, discussing the prospects for peace and freedom. (15 mins)
– Palestine is Still the Issue (2002) – John Pilger’s classic, filmed amidst the resistance and violent repression of the second intifada. A reminder that, despite everything, the Palestinian people refuse to submit. (54 mins)
£6 donation on the door. Funds go towards supporting the FRFI funddrive and action in solidarity with Palestine
The death count now stands at 109 people and it is thought to continue to rise over the next few days as there are many still critically injured….these 109 people were protesting for their human rights, shot by snipers, no threat to anyone.
The Great Return March was a peaceful non violent demonstration telling the whole world that the Palestinians have been suffering for almost 70 years and their lives have been awful since.
It is with a heavy heart that we organise this vigil, the response from the media has been disgraceful, the international community and our leaders has not been much better.
So we the ordinary people of Donegal stand with the Palestinian people ..we only wish we could do more.
As always we are asking all Irish elected representatives to act for the Palestinian people and to carry out the following actions. .Though as you have seen their response has been pitiful.
1 . Officially recognize the state of Palestine.
2. Impose economic sanctions on Israel.
3 End all diplomatic ties with the apartheid state.
Israel will continue showing flagrant disregard for international law and commit war crimes with impunity until Ireland and the International community hold them to account.
Given the level of anger at the new level of callousness being demonstrated by Israel, and the planned use of lethal force to prevent Palestinians demonstrating for their rights, we have agreed to stand alongside our Palestinian brothers and sisters by protesting every Saturday in the centre of Belfast. As they continue with their Great March of Return, so too do we continue to support them.
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign working alongside TUFP (Trade Union Friends of Palestine) and other solidarity organisations call on all people of conscience here to rally at Belfast City Hall to highlight the growing injustices against the Palestinian people, the inhumanity of the medieval siege of Gaza, causing untold suffering, and the denial of the fundamental right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland.
London Protest Tuesday 5th June
Join us to picket the Jewish National Fund Dinner which is celebrating the “70th anniversary of the state of Israel”. The racist and discriminatory policies of the JNF have been well documented and are of particular concern here in Canada due to the creation of “Canada Park” on the ruins of 3 Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.
#Nakba70 We are delighted to announce that the International revolutionary icon Leila Khaled, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, will address a meeting in Dublin on June 3rd via Video link.
70 years after the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the Nakba, Manchester Boycott Israel Group – Victory to Palestine! presents an afternoon of classic films dedicated to supporting the existence and resistance of the Palestinian people. For all of its weaponry, political power and imperialist backing, Israel has failed in erasing the spirit of resistance of those it has occupied and expelled. Join us in learning of this history and ongoing fight for justice through four classic films: