[News] Statement on the Occasion of Nakba Day and Events in Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.addameer.org/news/statement-occasion-nakba-day-and-events-gaza


  Statement on the Occasion of Nakba Day and Events in Gaza

16 May 2018
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It is with a heavy heart that we write this Nakba day statement. After 
the events of 14 May 2018, all words of condemnation seem insufficient 
and calls for action seem empty. The fact that this has been ongoing, 
cyclically, for 70 years is an outrage.

 From our perspective as a prisoner support organization, 70 years of 
Nakba represents 70 years of control and domination. This manifests 
throughout every system used to prop up and perpetuate the occupation. 
 From permit regime, to land confiscation, to annexation, to housing 
demolitions, and massacres, the intent of all these activities is the 
same. It is to completely bend the Palestinian people, their lives and 
dreams, to the will of the occupying force.

It means the violation of the basic tenets of humanitarian law. 50 years 
of official occupation is in no way temporary, and no longer abides by 
the internationally accepted definition. Thus, we have moved into a new 
reality through the simple passage of time and assertion of the will of 
the occupier. The military law system is the dominant legal paradigm of 
the land, the occupied population is continually transferred out with 
every imprisonment, and the occupier takes persistent steps towards 
indefinite annexation.

The Nakba means 70 years of displacement, domination, and deference to 
an external power. It means subdued spirits, and narrowed possibilities. 
It means the slow disintegration of hope, manifesting in inaction from 
those who have the privilege to disengage and desperation from those who 
do not.

Over the past four days, we have seen around 100 arrests throughout the 
occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. 
In an attempt to subdue the legitimate outrage that follows a massacre 
of the magnitude that has just been perpetrated in Gaza, the occupation 
has returned to its more ‘modest’ modes of control.

The international community has shown itself to lack the moral courage 
to stand up to Israel. It has made statements, and urged restraint while 
war crimes and violations of human rights have continued unabated. It 
has condemned the occupation on one hand, but has continued supplying 
the perpetrator on the other hand. It has held peace talks, while 
trading in the tools of war. If there was ever a time to change this 
pattern, it would be now. 70 years of continuing catastrophe is 70 years 
too long. The international community has a distinct responsibility to 
ensure that international norms and laws are upheld. Those who do not 
abide have no place in the community of nations.

To those who have stood with the Palestinian struggle on a personal 
level, your action and commitment is needed now more than ever. If we 
are to ever find a just solution, it is the people of the world, not the 
big institutions, who will be the primary movers of such change. It will 
be slow, and take many baby steps, but we move towards justice with 
every protests, every new understanding of the situation, and every BDS 
resolution. Every time a BDS proposition is brought forward, whether at 
universities, trade unions, or local governments, people will ask 
“why?”. It is your role as civil society to give them the answer. That 
70 years of displacement and oppression is ongoing; that Israel does not 
abide by international law or respect the basic human rights of the 
Palestinian people; that self-determination is all that is desired by a 
people who have been struggling for 70 years. That all human beings 
simply want the chance to dictate the parameters of their own life is an 
eternal truth.

To those who died in Gaza, we honor your memory. To those who were 
displaced in 1948, we carry your burden; and to those who remain locked 
away in occupation jails, we struggle for your freedom.

70 years is 70 years too long.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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