[News] Palestinians in Israel and beyond stage historic strike over abuses and Gaza bombing

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-gaza-citizens-down-tools-protest-bombing-abuses
Palestinians
in Israel and beyond stage historic strike over abuses and Gaza bombing
By Lubna Masarwa , Shatha Hammad , Latifeh Abdellatif - May 18, 2021
------------------------------

The stone streets of Jerusalem’s Old City are silent. Shutters with peeling
paint are firmly rolled down.

In Haifa, Jewish cafes are serving coffee. Beside them, Palestinian-run
businesses have their lights turned off.

Across Israel, the clanking, sawing and drilling sounds from construction
sites have disappeared. There are no Palestinian labourers manning the
scaffolds now.

'I cannot recall, for years, Palestinians of all backgrounds, factions,
Muslims, Christians, atheists, being united under one goal'

*- Inas Abbad, Palestinian political researcher*

Millions of Palestinians have gone on strike.

In Israel, occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Palestinians have
downed tools or stayed away from their desks in just the latest example of
pan-Palestinian solidarity following days of Israeli crackdowns and
ferocious bombing on Gaza.

“I cannot recall, for years, Palestinians of all backgrounds, factions,
Muslims, Christians, atheists, being united under one goal,” Inas Abbad, a
political science researcher and activist from East Jerusalem, told Middle
East Eye.

“This is the first time since the Second intifada that Palestinian parties,
together with all Palestinians of the occupied territories of 1948, have
issued a joint statement and a unified call for a strike.”
Shutdown in Israel

Schools, businesses, shops and official institutions have heeded the call,
first raised on Sunday by the Arab Follow-up Committee, which coordinates
between political parties inside Israel.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank, too, encouraged
participation in the action, labelled the Karameh (Dignity) Strike.

Around 1.93 million Palestinians
<https://imeu.org/article/fact-sheet-palestinian-citizens-of-israel> are
citizens of Israel, a fifth of the country’s population. In the West Bank
and East Jerusalem are some three million, some of whom travel over to
Israel every day to work on construction.

Though the strike has shut down large parts of all of their economies,
there is no quietude.

[image: An Israeli border police member confronts a Palestinian man during
protests against Israel's occupation and its air campaign on the Gaza
strip, at Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem (AFP)]
An Israeli border police member confronts a Palestinian man during protests
against Israel's occupation and its air campaign on the Gaza Strip, at
Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem (AFP)

Thousands of Palestinians are protesting in cities and towns across
historic Palestine, raging against Israeli raids in al-Aqsa Mosque,
attempted expulsions in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah, deadly far-right
violence in Israel and a punishing bombardment in Gaza that has killed 212,
including 60 children.

In Haifa, a northern Israel city known for its mix of Jewish and
Palestinian citizens, the Palestinian flag has been raised on several
buildings, and residents have taken to the streets chanting in solidarity.

“My feeling is that this strike is important to each and every one of us,
so that we can put a stop to this brutality and the constant assault on us
in all walks of life,” Hazar Hijazi, a 45-year-old education
therapist, said in Haifa.

“Enough attacks on people in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, Lod,
everywhere. Enough attacks on our homes, our daily life and displacement.
The displacement and erasure of our existence on our land needs to stop,
we’ve experienced enough repression, arrests and threats to our homeland
and our futures.”

Israeli forces have violently cracked down on Palestinian protests in
Jerusalem, both inside the Old City and around the Damascus Gate.

Israeli police beat, pepper sprayed and removed the hijab of MEE
correspondent Latifeh Abdellatif
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/latifeh-abdellatif> while she was
filming the detention of a young boy.

Palestinians on the scene stepped in to protect Abdellatif, scuffling with
the Israeli officers. A number of them were arrested as a result.

Fatima Khadir, an activist from Jerusalem at the Damascus Gate, underlined
the feeling of unity across all Palestinian communities.

"We gave so many sacrifices during this past year, many of our children
were killed in Jerusalem and Gaza, and we don't want to go to the past
again. Our children and families are being destroyed and have no chance of
living in dignity under occupation," she said.

"Who will protect us from the settlers and the Israeli forces? Who will
protect Sheikh Jarrah from eviction?" she asked.

"We have no one.. I really hope that the international community stands
with us. Shame on the Arab countries that normalise with Israel and see the
Palestinian women being beaten by the army. Biden is a Zionist, the arms
that are used in Gaza are coming from the US."

Shabtai, a Jewish Israeli in his 60s in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of
Baqaa, has had to take the day off because none of the Palestinian
labourers working on his construction site turned up for work.

“I hope this does not last. The longer the Arabs strike, the more money we
will lose because the building projects will be frozen,” he told MEE.

“I’ve called them several times to try and convince them to come to work.
Even the ones that want to work say they cannot because of the shame and
popular pressure.”
West Bank solidarity

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, hundreds of Palestinians have gathered
in the main streets and squares.

The crowd includes teachers, bank clerks and doctors, repeatedly chanting
“we will return to Haifa, Jaffa, Ramle and Lydd”. Anger is palpable over
the international community and Arab states’ inability to stop the bombing
of Gaza.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/children-gaza-console-one-another-during-israeli-air-strikes#autoplay>

Children in Gaza console one another during Israeli air strikes

Read More »
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/children-gaza-console-one-another-during-israeli-air-strikes#autoplay>

“This is the start of a new era, one united aim for all Palestinians,
wherever they may reside. Our demand is that we want to live freely and in
peace,” said one protester.

Demonstrations have also begun in Bethlehem and the Bedouin village of
Tulkum. They are expected to be followed this evening by ones in Jenin and
Nablus.

Israel forces shot a Palestinian man dead in Hebron on Tuesday morning. The
military said Fayyad Zahda, 31, was carrying weapons as he approached
soldiers near a settlement.

East of Ramallah in the town of Silwad, Shahla Hammad, 60, told Middle East
Eye that the nine-day bombing campaign on Gaza has resurfaced traumatic
memories.

“The air strikes bring back memories of the West Bank during the Intifada,
when people were opposing the Israeli attacks,” she said.

“Today’s air strikes, just like the air strikes during the Intifada, unite
us as Palestinians and brings us closer together and in cohesion.

"It helps us remember one another’s pain and the pain of parents in Gaza
who face Israeli aggression, and the pain of people in Jerusalem who are
under threat of displacement,” she added.
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