Tag: palestine solidarity

Solidarity Worldwide: actions, protests and initiatives for Palestine around the globe

As the Israeli army continues its genocidal war on Gaza, and as the Israeli occupation forces and settler militias carry out ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, people around the world are taking to the streets, engaging in direct actions and BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) and pressuring their governments to enforce an immediate permanent ceasefire, an end to the blockade of Gaza and an end to the Israeli occupation and apartheid.

This post will cover the ongoing solidarity with the Palestinian struggle around the world. It will be updated with media and reports of direct actions, demonstrations, vigils and other forms of solidarity currently happening around the world, so that we can inspire each other, learn from each other and connect struggles.

 

Jewish Voices for Peace launches a Week of Action (11-15 December)

Jewish Voices for Peace and partner organisations are launching a week of mobilisations for the week (11th – 15th December). Their toolkit  includes guidelines on how to take action during the week in the US:

#1 – Organize a protest at your elected official’s office

#2 – Organize a protest or creative direct action at a weapons manufacturing and corporate targets.

#3 – Tell Congress: stop arming this genocide and Vote NO on sending more weapons to Israel, and join us every Tuesday and Wednesday to make calls to Congress.

#4 – Host a teach-in or create a zine on the role of U.S. militarism and Palestine in your community.

#5 – Something else! Plan a creative action!

 

Students in Queen’s University Belfast vote for divestment from military and colonial projects, ending all ties to arms firms (December 8th)

An overwhelming majority of students (88.71%) at Queen’s University Belfast student union voted for a position that called for divestment from military and colonial projects and the ending of all ties with to arms firms. The motion also called for the removal of Hillary Clinton as chancellor, and for giving more power to students and staff over senior appointments, partnerships and investments of the University.

 

 

French activists protest in front of manufacturer supplying Israeli army (December 7th)

Activists from the group Stop Arming Israel France blocked the entrance to the offices of Exxelia, a company that manufactures components of Israeli missiles, such as position sensors.


During the 2014 war on Gaza, an Israeli bomb killed three Palestinian children from the Shuheibar family, leaving other two seriously injured. The bombing occured on July 17th, during a five-hour humanitarian ceasefire brokered by the UN, and targeted what was evidently a civilian target — a rooftop where children were playing. Relatives of the three child martyrs found a residue of the bomb read “Eurofarad France“. Experts have since determined that the component is a Hall effect sensor made by Exxelia Technologies.

The family has since brought Exxelia to court for complicity in war crimes.

 

Groups take UK government to court over arms exports to Israel (December 5th)

Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) are taking the British government to court for violating its arms export regulations, which obligate the government to suspend licenses for arms exports if there is a clear risk that the exported weapons might be used in breach of international humanitarian law.

According to the organisation Campaign Against Arms Trade, the UK provide “15 percent of the components of the F35 stealth combat aircraft which Israel has used to bomb Gaza in recent weeks. They also supply missiles, tanks, small arms and ammunition”.

(from Israel-Palestine war: Groups take UK government to court over arms exports to Israel | Middle East Eye)

 

British activists halt operations at LondonMetric, which rents property to arms manufacturer Elbit Systems (December 5th)

Activists from the British group “Palestine Action” have targeted LondonMetric, a British property company that rents lands and buildings to Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems is the primary provider of the Israeli military’s land-based equipment and and unmmaned aerial vehicles.

 

“LondonMetric owns the land and building at Unit F, Meridian Business Park, Meridian E, Leicester LE19 1WZ, from which Elbit operates their UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS) drone factory. U-TacS exports millions of pounds worth of drone technologies annually to Israel, including parts for armed Hermes drones. These drones have well-documented links to war crimes and are sure to play a significant role in the ongoing genocide in Gaza”. (from: Elbit’s drone factory landlords targeted – Freedom News)

 

Protesters target COP28 summit in Dubai with peaceful direct action (December 4th)

Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the venue of the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai for a peaceful action of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Protesters demanded for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and read the names of the victims of the Israeli attack.

In response to the authority’s ban on raising Palestinian flags, the protesters held banners and flags with watermelons painted on them. The watermelon is a well-known symbol of the Palestinian struggle — since it bears the colours of the Palestinian flag — and it has been widely used to evade restrictions on Palestinian symbols both in Palestine and around the world.

Watch a report of the action here

Find more about the watermelon and other symbols of the Palestinian struggle here

Human rights organisations bring Dutch government to court over complicity in Israeli war crimes (December 4th)

Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Oxfam, are bringing the Dutch government to court over its export  of reserve parts for fighter jets to Israel, which has continued in the past weeks, despite the figther jets being the backbone of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

 

Palestinian Boycott National Committee publishes statement putting forward grass-root policies to enact Palestine solidarity (December 2nd)

The BNC published a statement putting forward a guide to grass-root policies that activists around the world can push in their local unions, organisations and city councils to put solidarity into action. The policies, which are laid out with practical resources and examples, include: Call for a Permanent Ceasefire, Apartheid Free Pledge, Divestment policies.

 

South Africans march for International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (November 29th)

Some of the thousands of people protest as part of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Johannesburg, South Africa.
March in Johannesburg, South Africa [Kim Ludbrook/EPA]
South Africans marched through Johannesburg on November 29th, crossing Nelson Mandela Bridge and calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Veteran South African anti-apartheid activist Ronnie Kasrils called for the boycott and isolation of Israel over the current war:

“All over the world, millions and millions are coming out and saying no, no, no. We will boycott and isolate Israel until it hurts them, and we stand by the Palestinian people fully, in our total support”

A reel showing the march can be found here

 

 

 

The escalation of Israeli crimes in the West Bank

Balata Refugee Camp
By. Diana Khwaelid
Israel is escalating and expanding its crimes in the West Bank, as well as in Gaza.
On the evening of Friday, November 17th, the Israeli occupation forces, in cooperation and partnership
with the Israeli Shin Bet, carried out an aerial bombardment on the Fatah headquarters in the
Balata refugee camp, targeting 4 Palestinian men wanted by the Israeli occupation forces.
The youngest of them was the martyr Mohammed Massimi, age 16.
An Israeli warplane fired an air missile at the Fatah headquarters in the Balata refugee camp
when it received information that the wanted men were inside. Israel has not
fired such kind of missiles through the Airplane since the AlAqsa agreement during the Second Intifada.
According to sources from the Red Crescent Society and eyewitnesses who were in the camp,
the four young men were found in horrible circumstances.
They are the martyr Mohammed Abbas, 20 years old, Mahmoud Zahed zoufi , 39 years old, Mohammed Hashash 18 years old and Mohammed Massimi, 16 years old.

The camp woke up to the sound of an explosion, around 11 o’clock at midnight, to be surprised
by the shelling of the Fatah movement headquarters in the camp, and they found 4 bodies
belonging to the four young men, and dismbeberd body limbs because of the intensity of the explosion.
The Red Crescent crews, with the presence of members of the Palestinian civil defense,
removed the four young men and the remaining body parts, and they were transferred to
Rafidia government hospital in Nablus.


But the Israeli occupation not only killed and targeted the 4 of them; Israeli snipers targeted
the young martyr Ali Faraj shoothing him on the neck. The number of martyrs of the Balata refugee camp increased to 5 martyrs in less than 4 hours.
The bodies of the martyrs were given to their families for a final farewell. A state of fear, horror and sadness prevailed in the Balata camp, until the day after the funeral of the 5 martyrs took place. Hundreds of Palestinians participated in the funerals, chanting words of anger and resistance, condemning the crimes of the Israeli occupation against Palestinians in the West Bank, especially in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the percentage of martyrs in the West Bank has
reached more than 120 martyrs since October 7th.

Report on Land Confiscations by the Israeli Army in Salfeet and Qalqilya Area 

Israeli plan for the renewed confiscation of lands around Alei Zahav illegal settlement.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have recently announced a new sequence of land seizures in eleven villages in Salfeet (Salfit) District and three in the Qalqilya area of Occupied Palestine. The total amount of land being confiscated, for “military/security” reasons, is the equivalent of nearly one million square metres.  850,000 of this is for the compulsory renewal of notices of land confiscation that had already been issued, the rest is made up of new illegal acquisitions. 

Plan for the renewed confiscation of lands around Ari’el illegal settlement.

Residents in the fourteen villages – which include Bruqeen, Iskaka, Deir Istiya and Zawiya – were given notice of the seizures within the last two weeks.  They were allowed just seven days to register appeals with the Israeli court.  Many were unable to do so within the tight deadline, which required producing notarised copies of land title deeds, and the additional expense of hiring a lawyer to represent them.  Based on bitter past experience the majority of residents, however, chose not to register appeals, as the Israeli courts have proven themselves to be completely unwilling previously to overturn any order raised by the military that cite ‘security concerns’. 

A view of Marda village, overwhelmed by the Ari’el illegal settlement.

Despite some appeals having been lodged with the court, the Israeli Army has nonetheless continued to occupy the confiscated land in question, and erected fences and other barriers on the disputed new land.  Residents can now only gain access to tend crops or pick olives if they apply to the Israeli Army for a permit to enter their own land.  This still means they have to pass through checkpoints and face humiliating delays, ID checks, bag searches and body searches.