Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have taken to the streets in response to a call from Palestinian civil society in the occupied and besieged Gaza strip, and the BDS National Committee (BNC), for a day of rage.
Photos from Andrew Kadi in Call to end US Aid to Israel
The mobilisations come as grassroots pressure mounts on western governments to impose a military embargo on Israel.
On the 31st of July, Spain announced “provisional” suspension of military exports to Israel. On August 7th, Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, became the first head of state to declare his support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).
Dr Haidar Eid, a Gaza based steering committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel stated, “the masses that demonstrated their support today for Palestinian rights remind us of the demonstrations in the 80’s against Apartheid. This is our South African moment. Just as the South African anti-Apartheid movement and international support brought an end to the Apartheid regime, Palestinians, with the support of people of conscience worldwide, will bring an end to Israel’s multi-tiered system of oppression. Governments across the world must act in accordance with the will of their people and hold Israel accountable, including imposing sanctions and a military embargo on it to end its criminal impunity.”
Palestinian civil society based in Gaza said in their call:
“As we face the full might of Israel’s military arsenal, funded and supplied by the United States and the European Union, we call on civil society and people of conscience throughout the world to pressure governments to sanction Israel and implement a comprehensive arms embargo immediately. Take to the streets on Saturday 9th of August with a united demand for sanctions on Israel.”
9th August 2014 |Sarah Algherbawi | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Sarah Algherbawi is a Palestinian citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia in 1991 and now lives in the Gaza Strip. She finished her BSc degree in Business Administration at the Islamic University of Gaza, and now works as a media project coordinator.
It is extremely difficult to find a starting point when trying to write about martyrs. The death toll till is now 1898 people, including 433 children, 243 women, and 85 elderly, while the number of injured people is 9837.
They have left thousands of stories, and incurable pain, behind.
I’m Ibraheem Ismaeel Al-Ghoul. You can find me in the photo on the left. I had a twin brother. We lived together for nine months inside mom’s womb and only ten days out.
I thought we’d also share our lives, play together, go to kindergarten, school, and university together, and have the same friends. I though we would be friends forever.
My twin was killed before we could even grow a little and see life outside.
I lost my other half, Mohammed.
My twin brother wasn’t my only loss. I also lost my mother, my father and my older brother Wael. I’m so sorry I will never have the chance to know them, nor my two lovely sisters, Hanady and Asma’a – they were also killed.
My brothers and sisters were kept inside an ice cream freezer. You can see them in the photo on the right. There was no room for more dead people at the hospital.
There’s no room for more pain either.
On Sunday, 3rd of August, the Al-Goul family lost 10 members, including Ibraheem’s family and five members of his uncle’s family.
I’m Ramy Rayan. I had a mom and a dad who loved me like no other parents on earth did. I was their only son. They gave me everything. I was their life.
I also had a lovely wife and four children. My oldest child was only eight-years-old when I was killed. I was killed for doing my job. I did not hold a gun; all I had was my camera.
They didn’t just steal my life; they stole the lives of a whole family. I died only once. I wonder how many times my poor family will die every day now that they have to live without me?
They will never forget. They will never forgive.
I’m Momen Qraiqeh, a Palestinian photo journalist, aged 27-years-old.
In 2008, I lost both my legs to Israeli air strikes while I was doing my job.
In 2014, I lost my house to the same enemy.
No one can predict what else they may lose.
We all share the same pain. We all know and feel what loss means.
None of us can imagine how the rest of our lives, if it is even right to call this life, will be after this moment.
We lost the apples of our eyes. Our innocent, poor, and pure babies were killed with no guilt.
They loved life, but weren’t given the chance to live. It was their simplest right, to live!
We had a house here.
We had a life, memories, joys and sorrows…all were completely buried under the wreckage. Everything was gone in a blink of an eye.
It takes time, health, and wealth to build a house. It takes so long to create the tiny details and build it up, to make every solid piece beat with life!
Many stories are now meaningless beyond the limits of this place. Many feelings won’t be felt again, and many smells will be missed…
Nothing is left here but destruction, grief, and the unending smell of death.
This is my university.
I built my future here, and my friendships. I had the best times. It was my gateway to the world.
In this building I took many pictures with my friends at our graduation ceremony. I loved it as much as I love my friends.
It was beautiful, wasn’t it?
Does it seem like a place where terrorism can be practiced? I suppose yes, the most dangerous type of terrorism is practiced here– knowledge building! Here we learned how to face the occupation with education and knowledge, and to make the world aware of who we are.
9th August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement| Occupied Palestine
All over the world, from Cape Town to London, people have taken the streets for Gaza!
Valencia, Spain (https://twitter.com/RESCOP1)Thailand (https://twitter.com/NalanSarraj)London, UK (https://twitter.com/pjbodenham)Dublin, Ireland (https://twitter.com/RoryHearne)London, UK (https://www.facebook.com/londonpalestineaction)Marseille, France (https://twitter.com/toufika13)Cape Town, South Africa (https://twitter.com/olafbrinkmann)Paris, France (https://twitter.com/Campagnebds)Amman, Jordan (https://twitter.com/nosh15)Helsinki, Finland (https://twitter.com/OutiPopp)Tokyo, Japan (https://twitter.com/LoveForGaza_jpBerlin, Germany (https://twitter.com/norashalaby)Melbourne, Australia (https://twitter.com/rafiqa65)Delhi, India (https://twitter.com/kramdas)
9th August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Vern | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
As ISM volunteers were heading back from al-Masara village yesterday, we were dropped at off at Bab Al-Zawiye, the city center of Hebron. We observed a clash between Palestinian youths and the Israeli army. Youths were throwing rocks and were gunned down with rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition.
Photo by Vern, ISM volunteer
We observed a Palestinian demonstrator shot in the leg. He fell down, and others dragged him to the ambulance. A few minutes afterwards, we observed a man being rushed away by his friends; his body was laid on the top of a car. He was shot in the chest. His name was Nader Muhammad Idris. We learned later that he died.
Photo by Vern, ISM volunteer
At least 40 people were wounded that day.
The brutality of the Israeli army never ceases to amaze me. When people appeal to the soldiers, they are ignored. When they peacefully march, they are tear-gassed, deafened with stun grenades or arrested. When they throw rocks, they are shot.
Israel cries that it is a victim of “terrorism”. Yet the terrorism of the occupation in Palestine leaves behind it a regular trail of wounded, maimed, and murdered people.
9th August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Palestinian human rights defenders and international volunteers from the UK and the USA are travelling to Maghazi to deliver food parcels, water, and mattresses to 50 families.
“Maghazi was attacked once again today, and another two people were killed. A lot of families don’t want to leave their homes and they’re being forced from their land due to the very real threat of shelling and Israeli rocket attacks. I really want to concentrate in this area as many people live close to the borders and are therefore in very dangerous situations. I think that Magahzi is often neglected both in the media and with humanitarian aid.” Stated Rina Andolini, UK activist now in Gaza.
Ashraf Kulab, director of the Maged Women’s Association and resident of Magahzi, spoke to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) about the situation is his region. “Areas of Meghazi have been completely destroyed, in the eastern part of the refugee camp you can’t recognise the streets, people don’t know where their houses were, it is just rubble. There is also a serious water problem; people are just not receiving aid and the crisis is growing.”
Photo from Maghazi on August 7th (photo by Rina Andolini).
Al-Fatiha Global and a group of private donors are supplying the aid delivered to Maghazi today.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, as of August 7th, 1888 people have been killed and a further 9804 have been injured since this attack began on July 8th.
This is not the first time international volunteers have travelled to areas ravaged by the Israeli military to distribute humanitarian aid. On August 4th Palestinian human rights defenders, joined by volunteers from Sweden, the USA and the UK, drove to Rafah to deliver water, food, and mattresses.
