SATURDAY! 22 May! In Hastings: ‘massive rally in support of Palestinian rights’

Hastings is expecting its largest ever demonstration for the Palestinian cause tomorrow [Saturday 22 May], according to the Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 

In the wake of 11 days of Israeli bombing of Gaza – killing 232 Palestinians, including 63 children – the group say their planned demonstration – ‘Rise Up for Palestine’ – is attracting huge support from sympathetic locals.

HRPSC Chair Katy Colley said: “We held an event last Saturday and were amazed that over 120 people came to show their support for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, as well as those living under occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“I think a tipping point has come. Thanks to comprehensive reports from respected human rights organisations, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem we are aware that Israel is practicing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians. And like with South African apartheid, we know that without pressure from the international community this is not going to change on its own.”

The recent crisis in Israel/Palestine was sparked by the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where families face forced eviction from the homes they have lived in for decades by right wing settler groups.

Their peaceful protests were met with extreme violence from both the Israeli police and right wing Jewish supremacist gangs, which marched through the streets chanting: ‘Death to the Arabs’ and attacking Palestinians.

The Israeli forces then stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque during the Holy month of Ramadan, throwing stun grenades and tear gas at men and women at prayer.

This sparked protests across all of Palestine and rocket fire from Hamas.

Rise Up For Palestine!

In 11 days of airstrikes, Israel wiped out whole families, destroyed residential buildings, targeted the offices of media agencies, AP and Al Jazeera, killed doctors, destroyed the only Covid testing facility and wiped out essential infrastructure like healthcare facilities, roads, sanitation and factories. Meanwhile, Hamas rockets killed 12 in Israel, including 2 children.

The internationally-brokered ceasefire, which took effect in the early hours of Friday morning, has been welcomed on all sides. The violence has once again laid bare the terrible inequities in the region.

There have been massive solidarity protests across the world and in an extraordinary show of unity, Palestinians across all of Israel and West bank held a general strike on Tuesday, the first of its kind in decades.

‘We cannot talk of Palestine now without addressing the root cause of the injustice,’ said Katy. ‘Which is that a settler-colonialist regime is ethnically cleansing the indigenous population and is in continual breach of international law by denying them the right of return as well as their human rights and freedom.

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