In response to a call for solidarity from Gazan women, a Jewish activist group dubbed “Return” gathered to hold a memorial for Razan AlNajar, at the location of her village of origin, Salameh.
While thousands of women marched towards the border in the Saja’iya area in Gaza, the activists held a ceremony honoring Razan and the protesters shot dead by Israeli snipers. The activist called for the implementation of the right of return and hung photos of the slain protesters placing flowers and candles on a structure that proceeded the Zionist state.
The steering committee of the Great march of return published a call for people to commemorate the fallen protesters. Return has been organizing commemorations inside historical Palestine in locations including the Gaza border fence and the Israeli parliment. Other such memorials are taking place around the world.
The protestors changed Hertzel streets on the road between Salamah and Jaffa to Al-Awda street and Ben-Zvi street to Razan Al-Najar street.
“Razan did not see Salama, but she and all the refugees who are not present here physically are always present here with us, as a void an absence, something that is missing here until their inevitable return. ” stated one of the activists.
Near Khan Yunis, Gaza- 26 June, 2018- A group of Israeli activists, dubbed ‘Return’, advanced today towards the fence besieging the Gaza Strip, and hung pictures on the fence depicting Palestinians slain by the military during the ‘Great March of Return.’
The activists responded to a call for solidarity made by the organizers of the protests. Gazan organizations have requested that the pictures of the fallen protesters be hung in various locations around the world and particularly in the fronts of Israeli and US embassies, in order to support the protests and their aims. Similar actions are expected to take place globally in the coming weeks.
An Israeli military jeep arrived on the scene as the posters were being hung and demanded the activists remove them. The activists finished hanging posters along the fence and refused to remove them.
One of the activists, Omer Sharir, explained that they were aiming to protest the killing of unarmed protesters as well the siege on Gaza, and that they supported the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Palestine: “the right of return is a basic human right extended to any one who was forced to leave their home as a result of conflict” Sharir stated.
Another activist Anna said: “there is nothing preventing the refugees to return to the towns and villages from which they were forced to flee, and similar resettlement programs have been implemented in other places around the world in the aftermath of wars. I am appalled that protests stemming from such an elementary desire to return to one’s home, and from longings for a place and a homeland, are again and again met with live and lethal fire from the Israeli side.”
The activists explained that: “Every day more people are shot dead in Gaza. More the 135 unarmed protesters have already been killed and 14,000 people were wounded including medical staff, journalists, and children. The global media offer less and less coverage of the carnage that are unfolding in the Strip. That is why we felt it imperative to respond to the request to solidarity from the organizing committee, as a result of our responsibility as Jewish Israelis for the occupation and the siege of Gaza, and similarly to reinforce the goals of the protests, which is the implementation of the right of return.
Resources:
The call for solidarity by the organizers of the Great March of Return:
Mahmoud Sawalhi is an 11 year-old boy from Gaza who was shot in the head and the shoulder with live ammunition by an Israeli sniper on the 14th May Great Return March protests. A bullet passed through his eye and out of the top of his head, and he lost both his eye and part of his brain. His heart stopped twice in the ambulance on the way to the hospital in Gaza, and he fell into a coma for 6 days. You can watch this short video showing Mahmoud in hospital the day after he was shot.
Mahmoud in hospital in Gaza in the first days after he was shot. Image given with permission by Mahmoud’s family
Three days after he was shot, Mahmoud was transferred to a hospital in Ramallah, where he has some cousins, but he doesn’t know them very well because of the travel restrictions between Gaza and the West Bank. He had only met his cousin Samar once before when she visited Gaza for a day a year or so earlier. He didn’t recognise many of the faces he saw around him when he regained consciousness. Mahmoud’s immediate family were not allowed to travel from Gaza to the West Bank to be with him at the hospital and so he was parted from his parents and close family for over two weeks while his condition was critical. The process of getting permission to cross from the Israeli authorities was difficult, and at first Feda waited 7 hours at the Erez crossing before being turned back, despite having a permit for travel to the West Bank. The Israeli authorities then eventually allowed Mahmoud’s mother Feda to travel to be with her son in hospital, and she is still here with him.
Last Wednesday Mahmoud had an operation to remove the remaining part of his eye in the socket to prepare for a possible replacement from a donor. His condition during and after the operation was critical, and the medical team knew there was a high risk of infection. He suffered from a fever after the operation, but has since stabilised and his condition is now better. ISM visited Mahmoud and his family in hospital a few weeks ago and again today. His mother told us ‘I just want him to be a normal boy again, I just want him to be a normal child again.’ Mahmoud is doing much better than when we saw him last, but he is likely to have severe brain damage and need a great deal of support during his long-term recovery. We asked him what he wants to do when he gets out of hospital and he says ‘I want to go to the beach’. Before he was shot, Mahmoud loved to swim in the sea.
Mahmoud in his hospital bed in Ramallah in the week before his operation.
Given the conditions in Gaza where medical services have been overwhelmed with injuries deliberately inflicted by Israeli forces, Mahmoud was lucky to be transferred for treatment outside of Gaza. A WHO report for April showed that only around a third of those injured by Israeli forces in the Great Return March demonstrations were allowed to cross to Palestine, much lower than the general approval rate of 60% for medical crossings earlier this year. In 2017 the approval rating for medical exit permits from Gaza was the lowest since 2008, at around 54%, and that year 54 Palestinians died after the denial or delay of their permits by Israel.
Since the Great Return March protests began on 30 March this year, over 135 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Head of government hospitals in Gaza, Abdullatif al-Haj, has told press that there are severe shortages of medicines. The total number of injuries is reportedly over 13,000, with over 350 seriously injured, and over 2000 children injured. Israeli forces have also been targeting medical personnel themselves. On the day Mahmoud was shot, 17 medical personnel were shot with live ammunition by Israeli snipers, and one was killed. On Friday 1st June a 21 year old medical volunteer, Razan al-Najjar was shot in the chest while treating the wounded near the fence. The sheer number of injuries in Gaza has overwhelmed the already troubled hospitals, which is why many of the seriously injured apply for a medical permit to be treated in East Jerusalem or the West Bank.
Mahmoud was one of these cases to be allowed to cross to Ramallah, but he will be forced to return to Gaza with his mother Feda as soon as his critical treatment is over. Mahmoud’s family are worried about the treatment needed for his recovery and rehabilitation longer term. It is likely that he will have lasting brain damage and psychological problems caused by his injuries. At the moment he can speak and interact, but in a limited way, and he is not expressing himself well. His family are particularly worried about his chances for rehabilitation once he returns to Gaza, because of the poor resources and medical capacity in the occupied Gaza strip.
Mahmoud’s family are appealing for international support to help in his long-term medical treatment. Maybe you can help with the following:
• His family would like advice from anyone who can offer medical consultation on the best course of rehabilitation for Mahmoud now. • If he has to return to Gaza, his treatment will suffer, and his family do not have funds to support the complex rehabilitation he needs. Specifically they are asking for financial assistance to help cover the costs for rehabilitation equipment and treatment. • Please contact Mahmoud’s cousin Samar: samar.sawalhi@hotmail.com if you can help in any way.
Mahmoud resting during our visit today. His family are worried about his long term recovery, particularly the brain damage he has suffered, and prospects for his rehabilitation.
This is a call for all those who believe in justice, equality and freedom to come to Palestine and support the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Palestinian women flying kites at The Great March of Return in Gaza (Mohammed Asad, via Mondoweiss)
The International Solidarity Movement is looking for volunteers from now until the end of August to join the Summer of Return campaign. Volunteers will assist actions across Palestine that raise global awareness of the Great March of Return, large-scale popular protests in Gaza, consisting of thousands of demonstrators each Friday demanding to implement their right to return to their land and homes. While the brutal siege of Gaza has transformed the strip into an open air prison camp, it is almost impossible to enter the isolated strip. However solidarity actions with the Great March of Return are taking place across Palestine. Volunteers will support nonviolent actions of popular resistance against Israeli occupation and apartheid. Human rights defenders will also offer accompaniment to Palestinians and their communities who face daily harassment, risk of physical violence and arrest by occupation forces and settlers.
Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip attempted to cross the highly fortified fence separating the enclave (Al-Jazeera)
Since the start of the Marches, at least 135 unarmed protesters have been shot dead and more than 14,000 wounded by Israeli forces (UNOCHA), including children, medical staff, journalists, and the disabled. Gaza’s health system has been pushed to the brink of collapse, as hospitals struggle to handle an influx of serious and life-threatening injuries. Palestinians under siege in Gaza are marching home to the villages and cities from which they were expelled. They are marching out of the concentration camp that Israel has transformed Gaza into. They are marching to claim the international human right of refugees to return. Because of this, the Israeli occupying forces are murdering them in cold blood. The courage and sacrifice of this March demands all to stand up and end Israeli impunity and apartheid..
Palestinian youth play during the mass rally on April 11, 2018 (Xinhua/Stringer)
The ISM is a Palestinian-led movement which is committed to non-violent action. We will provide further information on our principles and other necessary information in a two day training course in our Ramallah office from the 2nd to the 4th July and from the 2nd to the 4th August.
3rd June, 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Ramallah, occupied Palestine
Yesterday at midday, hundreds of protestors marched through the streets of Ramallah to mourn the execution of Razan Al Najjer, the 21-year-old medic who was executed by Israeli forces in Gaza on Friday.
Members of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society from across the West Bank, largely students, marched with portraits of Razan. Protestors held signs calling for #JusticeForRazan and end to Israeli war crimes and the seige in Gaza.
Hundreds of protestors march through the streets of Ramallah to mourn the execution of Razan Al Najjer, the 21-year-old medic who was executed by Israeli forces in Gaza on Friday (photo by ISM)
“Razan was providing first aid for people in the Gaza area and she was killed by live ammunition by Israeli soldiers,” says Dr. Muhammed Scafe, of PMRS. Dr. Scaafi emphasized that the murder of medical personel is a war crime and a breach of international law. “In accordance with the Geneva international code, medical teams have the right to provide first aid.”
Shatha Sameer Zaydya, a member of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, says she started volunteering with PMRS when she was a student in university. “I’m from the Sarfit area. We work a lot in Safit, Nablus, and Ramallah when we can. We face a lot of attacks from Israelis, and especially the settlers in the Nablus area, who want to kill and harm [Palestinians] and make us afraid.”
In accordance with the Geneva international code, medical teams have the right to provide first aid (photo by ISM)
Members of PMRS have been active in the West Bank and Gaza for the past 40 years. Today the organization has over 1.5 million volunteers. PMRS has provided urgent medical care to Gazans following Israeli violence 2012, 2014, and now in 2018 during the #GreatReturnMarch.
Yesterday afternoon, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, president of the PMRS, welcomed mourners into the headquarters in Ramallah. The message, he says, of todays protest is to honor Razan and to show Palestinians in Gaza “that we are one people, that you are not alone, and that you are not going to suffer on your own.”
Peaceful demonstrators march through Ramallah to protest against Israeli forces targeting medical personnel, journalists, children and unarmed civilians during the ongoing Great Return March in Gaza
Near Khan Yunis, Gaza- 26 June, 2018- A group of Israeli activists, dubbed ‘Return’, advanced today towards the fence besieging the Gaza Strip, and hung pictures on the fence depicting Palestinians slain by the military during the ‘Great March of Return.’
