Tag: Great return march

Mosques, churches, protests: Gaza on the Balfour Declaration’s 102nd anniversary

3rd November | Wafa Aludaini | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Gazans march in protest on the 102nd anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

On the 102nd anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, churches rang bells and mosques called for prayer at the same time, while tens of thousands of Palestinians entered the buffer zone this Friday between the besieged Gaza Strip and Israel in the massive weekly Great March of Return protest.

This 81st week of protests was called “Down with the Balfour Declaration!”. It marks the 102nd anniversary of the British declaration announcing support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. Palestinian masses now are calling on Britain to not only apologize but also rectify this major historical disregard for Palestinian self determination and statehood.

Palestinian children at the 81st week of the Great March of Return in Gaza.

Ali Salim, 55, stated that the Balfour Declaration, in fact, is the cause and source of all the Palestinian tragedies and sufferings since then: “The 102nd anniversary means 102 years of displacement, expulsion, massacres, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”

Khawla Khalil added, “We came here today to confirm our rights, and our rejection of Balfour! These days, we are experiencing the declaration through Trump’s Deal of the Century, when he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”

Palestinian women holds a key, symbolizing the right of return for Palestinian refugees, at a protest in Gaza on Friday, November 1st.

Duaa Abdellateef — spokesperson for the Women’s Committee adjunct to the Committee for the Great Return March — said the weekly marches will continue until Palestinian rights and demands are met.

“We will defeat all the local and international conspiracies that aim at liquidating our Palestinian national cause, including the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, disregard of the internationally recognized right of return, and the proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank.”

On Thursday afternoon, October 31^st, mosques in Gaza called for prayers at precisely the same time local churches rang their bells, marking the 102nd anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. The public statement was intended to show all faiths in Gaza renewing their rejection of the British empire’s edict. The coordinated actions by mosques and churches across Gaza were organized by the Great Return March’s higher committee.

One of the churches in Gaza which took part in the coordinated actions for the 102nd anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

Wafa Aludaini is a journalist and activist in Gaza who writes a weekly column for ISM on the Great March of Return.

Slain Gaza protester: father, husband, brother, and “a Palestinian who dreamed of liberation”

5th October | Wafa Aludaini | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

A Palestinian protester identified as Alaa Nizar Hamdan, 28, was shot dead yesterday by Israeli Occupation soldiers in Jabalia, northern Gaza during the 77th week of the “Great March of Return” protests.

As thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Israeli barrier fence surrounding Gaza to participate in the marches, Israeli forces, who were positioned on sandy hills near the separation fence, opened fire, using live ammunition and tear gas canisters against the unarmed protesters. At least 50 were injured, 22 of them from live ammunition.

Alaa Nizar Hamdan was a husband and father with a 3 year-old daughter, Layan. On Saturday, the day after Alaa was killed, I spoke with his wife and family.

“Layan was everything to her father, since his death she has asked me hundreds of time about him, and I just keep crying… he always dreamed to have kids, and to bring them up in a beautiful home of their own,” his wife recalled. Layan was conceived through in vitro fertilization, an extremely costly process anywhere in the world but especially for Gazans. “He was working on his new flat, it just needed a few more things to be ready for us, but he died before achieving his dream”.

Alaa Nizar Hamdan, 28, killed by Israeli live ammunition on October 4th, 2019

Layan, Alaa’s only daughter, sat beside me while I spoke with her mother, playing with the new toys her father brought her for her 3^rd birthday, blissfully unaware that her father would not be coming back, that she is now fatherless. “Last month, he celebrated his daughter’s birthday for the first time. He saved money from his salary for 6 months for the celebrations and gifts.”

One of Alaa’s sisters, Hanaa, 22, told me, “We are seven sisters and six brothers, Alaa was the middle brother, and the kindest among us…He was always so helpful and smart,” she added.

Alaa’s sisters mourn their brother’s death.

Alaa was previously shot and injured in the leg a month ago by Israeli snipers during the Great March protests. Alaa’s brother Mohammad recalled that “even after his injury, he would go with his crutches, to keep protesting for our rights. He enjoyed life, he liked swimming and travelling…his only fault was being a Palestinian who dreamed of liberation.”

Mohammad was there the day Alaa was killed and saw it happen in front of him. “He posed no threat to the Israeli soldiers, he was not even holding anything in his hands. He was more than 100 hundred meter away from the soldiers.” According to PRCS ambulance medics, who took him to the Indonesian Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Alaa was shot in front of the main gate of Abu Safiyah area while he was about 80 – 100 meters west of the Israeli barrier fence.

Alaa’s brothers mourn his death in Jabalia, Gaza.

Alaa used to work in a stone factory but the factory closed several years ago due to the Israeli economic and military blockade imposed on Gaza.

Medics say the slain father was shot in his chest by an explosive bullet, banned under international law, fired by an Israeli soldier enforcing an illegal occupation. Since the commencement of the Great March of Return in Gaza, in March 2018, 313 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli forces, among them 2 journalists, 3 paramedics, 3 women and over 90 children. Thousands more have been wounded.

Palestinians in Gaza are calling for an end to the longstanding Israeli siege, which blocks the shipment to Gaza of everything from medical supplies, food and fuel, to materials to rebuild their homes, and the right of return to lands they were forcibly expelled from inside Occupied Palestine.

Wafa Aludaini is a journalist and activist in Gaza who writes a weekly column for ISM on the Great March of Return.

Israeli and international protesters demonstrated at Gaza fence in solidarity with The Great Return March

20th July 2018 | Close to the Gaza fence

Israeli and international protesters demonstrated at Gaza fence in solidarity with The Great Return March

On the 20th of July, Friday afternoon, a group of anti-zionist Israeli and international solidarity activists approached the Gaza siege fence at the same time that Gazans gathered by the fence on the other side during the weekly ‘Great Return March’, calling for the right to return to their land and for an end to the decade-long siege.

The activists carried a large banner saying ‘Liberate the Gaza ghetto’ along with flying the Palestinian flag. Additionally, the protesters held posters depicting the faces of Gazan protesters, journalists and medics who have lost their lives to Israeli soldiers since March 30th this year.

Protesters on both sides of the fence were visible to each other and interacted.

The activists read short biographies of the slain Gazans to Israeli soldiers who were trying to get them to leave the area. Finally, the solidarity activists were forcibly removed from the site and briefly detained by police before they were released.

A sister action was held in New York City the same day

“I just want him to be a normal boy again’: Gaza family appeal for urgent help to support treatment of 11 year old Mahmoud who was shot in the face by an Israeli sniper

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.

Jewish Israeli activists call for Palestinian right of return, hang portraits of protesters murdered in Gaza on Apartheid Wall

Israeli-Jewish activists, calling themselves “RETURN” hung photos of the martyrs of the Great Return March on Gaza Apartheid Fence.

First published by Mondoweiss

The following press release was sent to Mondoweiss regarding two actions in support of the right of return that were taken by Jewish groups in Israel today:

At 6 AM today, an anonymous group of Israeli-Jewish activists, calling themselves “RETURN” hung photos of the martyrs of the Great Return March on the Gaza Apartheid Fence. The protest was done against Israel’s extrajudicial killings of protesters during the Great Return March, including journalists, medics and unarmed demonstrators.

The action was inspired by a call from the #GreatReturnMarch in Gaza for international solidarity. The RETURN activists hung portraits of Gazans murdered by Israeli forces, including the now-iconic portrait of the young medic, Razan Al Najjar. Earlier this week, Gazan professor Haider Eid wrote, “the slogan of the Great March of Return is “I want to go home.” Seventy percent of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees from cities and towns in Israel… It’s time for the world to stand up and act– to impose sanctions on Israeli industries until Palestinians are granted freedom, civil rights, and justice.

One of the activists of RETURN stated, “The Palestinians besieged in Gaza are marching home, back to the villages and cities from which they were expelled. They are marching out of the desert that Israel has transformed Gaza into and because of this, the Israeli Occupying army is murdering them in cold blood. The courage and sacrifice of these people demand of us all to stand up and ensure an end to Israeli impunity. Apartheid must end and we are the ones who must end it.”

Later this morning “Israeli Jews in Support of Palestinian Return” posted posters of Akhmad Al-‘Adinie whos family was expelled from Bir As-Saba and ‘Abd Al-Qadr Al-Khawajry whos family was expelled from Bureir – Both were murdered by Israeli soldiers as they tried to return to their homes. The posters where posted near the Mosque of Bir AsSaba, in honor of their persistence and devotion. The group calls for the return of all the Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere.