Israelis fire on Gaza civilians protesting U.S. Embassy move

Human Rights Defenders Stand in Solidarity with the Great March of Return and Oppose Today’s U.S. Embassy Move to Jerusalem. Leaders and groups around the world condemn Israel’s intentional killing of civilians in Gaza including statements from B’Tselem and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders

A group of ad hoc human rights defenders known as the #JusticeDelegation toured Palestine and Israel co-organized by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Interfaith Peace-Builders and issued the following statement. Statements from the Israeli Human Rights group B’Tselem and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders follow below:

We, a group of U.S.-based human rights defenders known as the #JusticeDelegation, call on our communities, our allies, our representatives, and the international community to hold Israel accountable for its violent response to Palestinians’ call and march for freedom. We are outraged by the Trump administration’s licensing and enabling of illegal Israeli policies that only serve to escalate the conflict, including today’s moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem a day before the 70th anniversary of the Nakba.

We are human rights defenders, lawyers and social justice advocates from various movements (including the Movement for Black Lives and indigenous communities at Standing Rock) across the United States who traveled to Palestine to witness first-hand the reality of Palestinians living under brutal military occupation and facing institutional discrimination within Israel.

Israeli violence targets Palestinians in Gaza Strip Friday Oct. 23, 2015. Copyright (C) 2015 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved

Traveling throughout the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, we met with prominent Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, community leaders, internally displaced, African refugees and asylum seekers, affected families, journalists, dissenters, United Nations officials, and members of legal, business, artistic, and faith communities.

We repeatedly witnessed the impact of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing on Palestinian communities through blatantly obtrusive policies, like the illegally constructed wall separating communities and families from each other, and the slow but systematic emptying of land and homes of their Palestinian residents. We also witnessed the structural racism and apartheid in land and housing policies against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

We saw the devastating impact of the 1948 Nakba, or the catastrophe, in which more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homeland and denied return to their homes in over 450 villages and cities, which were destroyed or thus inhabited by Jewish immigrants.

Today, Palestinians in Gaza will mark the culmination of their six-week Great March of Return to remember the Nakba. Thousands of Palestinians will march to demand freedom and recognition of their right of return. In Gaza, where the majority of the population is refugees, Palestinians are also marching to demand an end to Israel’s cruel and inhuman siege of the Gaza Strip. Over the past weeks, thousands of peaceful Palestinian protestors have been met with the use of live fire in clear violation of international law, resulting in the death of over 50 people, and maiming and injuring hundreds including children, journalists, and persons with disabilities.

The Palestinian condition is one of ongoing Nakba, and we have been humbled by the resilience of the Palestinian people over the past 70 years.

As members of movements that continue to experience structural racism, persecution and targeted eradication by our government, we stand with Palestinians living both in their homeland and all over the world in their struggle against settler colonialism, occupation, apartheid, racism, and ethnic cleansing. We call on the Israeli government to immediately end its illegal use of deadly force and violent crackdown on peaceful protesters and abide by international law protecting rights to life, peaceful assembly, and freedom of movement. Israeli officials who ordered unlawful lethal force should be subject to prosecution abroad as a matter of universal jurisdiction or in the International Criminal Court. Additionally, we call on the Israeli government to end the illegal blockade of Gaza and abide by international law prohibiting collective punishment, settlement construction, and forced displacement. We call on people of good will all over the world to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, and demand that the state of Israel call for its military forces to stand down, ceasing the violent response to unarmed protestors.

For press inquiries, contact:
Tamika Mallory, [email protected]
Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan, [email protected]
Ash-Lee Henderson, [email protected]

This statement is online here.

Sanders Statement on Gaza Violence

WASHINGTON, May 14 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement after more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 2,200 wounded by Israeli troops along the border fence with Gaza:

“More than 50 killed in Gaza today and 2,000 wounded, on top of the 41 killed and more than 9,000 wounded over the past weeks. This is a staggering toll. Hamas violence does not justify Israel firing on unarmed protesters. The United States must play an aggressive role in bringing Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the international community together to address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and stop this escalating violence.”

Sanders will hold a town hall tonight at 7 PM ET to address how Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal will impact tensions in the Middle East. Press can RSVP to attend in person here and watch live here.

Contact: [email protected]

Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem issues statement on Israeli killing of Gaza civilians

B’Tselem: Firing live ammunition at Gaza demonstrators shows appalling indifference to human life

The demonstrations held in Gaza today (Monday May 14, 2018) came as no surprise. Israel had plenty of time to come up with alternate approaches for dealing with the protests, apart from firing live ammunition. The fact that live gunfire is once again the sole measure that the Israeli military is using in the field evinces appalling indifference towards human life on the part of senior Israeli government and military officials. B’Tselem calls for an immediate halt to the killing of Palestinian demonstrators. If the relevant officials do not issue an order to stop the lethal fire, the soldiers in the field must refuse to comply with these manifestly unlawful open-fire orders.

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