Incredible dancers in the UK perform Dabke, the dance of Palestinian resistance, in solidarity with the Palestinians on the frontline of the Great Return March. In the face of Israel's military attacks funded by complicit companies like HSBC, the Palestinian people continue to resist and fight for their fundamental rights. Tell HSBC to end its complicity in Israeli war crimes: https://bit.ly/2GQnrtB And take to the streets this Saturday in solidarity with the Palestinian people, one year since the start of the Great Return March: https://bit.ly/2TYR2rJ
On March 30, 2018 evoking memories of the South African apartheid regime’s massacre of peaceful protesters in Sharpeville in 1960, Israel’s military committed a new massacre against Palestinian civilians as they were peacefully commemorating Palestinian Land Day, calling for an end to Israel’s brutal blockade of Gaza and asserting the UN-stipulated right of return for Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli military killed
at least 17 and injuring 1,400. Almost half of these were children.
While Israel routinely carries out mass killings of Palestinian
civilians in the Gaza strip, the massacre nonetheless stands out as a
particularly flagrant attack on non-violent demonstrators with no
conceivable pretext.
Last month, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) published a damning indictment of Israeli forces' conduct in suppressing the protests. According to the COI, Israeli soldiers have been
deliberately shooting civilians, killing and maiming protesters -
including children, as well as journalists and medics. The COI's findings were welcomed by human rights groups who last year
unsuccessfully challenged the army's rules of engagement and its
shooting policy in Israel's Supreme Court.Land Day has been commemorated by Palestinians every year since 30 March 1976, when Israeli military forces killed six Palestinian youth in mass peaceful protests in the Galilee against Israel’s large scale policy of confiscating their ancestral land to create exclusionary Jewish-only colonial settlements.
The Palestinians call for Israeli authorities to lift their 11 year illegal blockade on Gaza and allow Paletinian refugees to return to their villages and towns has still not been met.These demands are supported by international law as well as nearly every country in the world – with the marked exception of Canada, the USA, and Israel. In addition, the organizers of the march, which was supported by a wide cross-section of Palestinian political organizations, repeatedly insisted upon the non-violent nature of the march – claims supported by the observations of human rights workers
People of conscience across the world must continue to pressure international banks and investment funds, like HSBC to end their complicity in Israel’s human rights violations, support and show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, and demand that Palestinians’ fundamental rights to exist, resist , freedom , justice and return are respected.
If you're not around London, take action in your communities. Full list of events across the country here.
