Respect to Scottish Football fans as they show solidarity for the Palestinian people.

Fans at a football match between Glasgow Celtic and Israeli side Hapoel Beer Sheva turned whole sections of the stadium into a sea of Palestinian flags in an amazing show of unity, strength and solidarity on Wednesday night protesting against the Israeli occupation on night, ignoring an official ban on political demonstrations, despite Scottish police urging fans to not bring Palestinian flags, threatening them with arrest. However many Celtic fans have long identified with left-wing causes, among them the Palestinian struggle. The flag of Palestine is seen flying at games the club plays, and the match with Hapoel Be'er Sheva will be no exception.When hundreds of Palestinians were on hunger strike in Israeli jails in 2012, the group unfurled a banner reading "Dignity is more precious than food.".Also  through extensive fundraising work the supporters have helped bring Palestinian youth to the UK to take part in football tournaments and cultural tours.Numerous members have also visited the occupied West Bank.
Celtic could now  face penalties from UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, for allowing the protests to go ahead, but some fans said they were prepared to pay any fine themselves to show their opposition to Israel's participation in the competition.This has got Celtic into hot water with the football authorities previously. The club was fined 16,000 pounds ($20,750) by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA) after fans flew Palestine flags during a game against the Icelandic side KR Reykjavik. The game took place at the same time as the Israeli army's "Protective Edge Operation in Gaza", which left more than 2,200 Palestinians and at least 73 Israelis dead.
More than 800 people joined a Facebook group titled “Fly the flag for Palestine, for Celtic, for Justice.The group’s creators called on Celtic fans to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, saying that people should express their “democratic rights to display our opposition to Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and countless massacres of the Palestinian people”.The Facebook group also said that UEFA should not support Israel and its policies. “When someone is representing Israeli state institutions it is sadly never merely a game; football, UEFA, and Celtic FC are being used to whitewash Israel’s true nature and give this rogue state an air of normality and acceptance it should not and cannot enjoy until its impunity ends and it is answerable to international law and faces sanctions for the countless UN resolutions it had breached,” it read.The Palestinian flag is more than a national symbol; it has taken on the mantle of a symbol of defiance in the face of colonial oppression and apartheid, it should not be a crime to wave it.
Celtic won the match 5-2 and now appear likely to qualify for the lucrative group stages of the UEFA Champions League, in which Europe's top clubs compete for the game's most sought after trophy.Much respect to the Celtic fans, thanks from the bottom of my heart for showing humanity at its best.Sending a clear message to the Palestinians that their struggle is not forgotten. Free Palestine..

Powerful Palestine Rises triumphantly

                                             
                                            image - Palestinian artist Imad abu Shtayeh                                       
                                           
As Palestine seeks to join the International Criminal Court, powerful Palestine rises triumphantly: Despite the destruction, they remain steadfast, the Palestinian  voice grows stronger day by day - they have  not lost their hope or their dignity. Even though they have experienced pain and loss in an unimaginable way, they will not give up  until they get their deserved freedom, and an end  to their ongoing repression. The survival of the Palestinian  people is their strongest resistance, they do not see themselves as victims, but a people whose hopes and aspirations grow stronger everyday.
The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination remains undiminished and it is up to the international community to respect their rights and remind Israel of its obligation to respect this.
Remember too  that the International Criminal Court  specifically  finds that "Crimes against Humanity" under  the Rome Statute of 2007, Article 7, states that these offences include murder, forcible deportation or transfer of members of a group, torture, persecution of members of an identified group (ie the Palestinians ) and the crimes of apartheid.
May 2015 bring Peace and freedom, this freedom means refugees finally being allowed to return home. A freedom  that means that the Palestinian people can move around without having to hide from checkpoints or walk around walls. A freedom that means not being discriminated against, not being denieid passes. A freedom that  means having a functioning economy, that has not been stolen by the occupier, that has seen it taking  over the Palestinians tourism, agriculture, industries, land and natural resources. A freedom that does not see friends and relatives killed or homes demolished.
From the rivers to the sea I hope Palestine will be free, we should all  keep asking for justice and dignity for today's generation of Palestinians and the next ones to come, but we should  also remember that freedom is never given voluntarily by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed. This freedom must be allowed to prevail, as it did in South Africa, I strongly  believe that the arc of the universe is bent towards, this goal, even when at times, it does not seem to look this way. This is one of my dearest goals.