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10:54 09.10.2024 •
Moroccan women wave flags and chant slogans in support of Gaza and Lebanon during a protest in Rabat, Morocco, October 6, 2024.
Photo: The Morning Star
Pro-Palestinian marches erupted all over the world at the weekend, demanding a ceasefire ahead of Monday’s first anniversary of the Hamas attacks in southern Israel, ‘The Morning Star’ informs.
In Australia, thousands of people came out in support of Palestinians and the now Israeli-targeted Lebanese in a number of cities, while a pro-Israel rally also took place in Melbourne.
In Melbourne, supporters of Israel held up posters showing Israeli hostages who are still missing.
“We feel like we didn’t do anything to deserve this,” said Jeremy Wenstein, one of the participants. “We’re just supporting our brothers and sisters who are fighting a war that they didn’t invite.”
At a rally in Berlin, near the Brandenburg Gate, hundreds of pro-Israel demonstrators marched up the Unter den Linden behind a banner that read “Against all anti-semitism.”
At the 300,000-strong protest in central London, Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal said that he and other peace campaigners will keep organising marches until action against Israel is taken.
He said: “We need to be out on the streets in even bigger numbers to stop this carnage and stop Britain being drawn into it.”
Tess Yasser of the Palestinian Youth Movement said people were marching: “We’re commemorating one year of genocide, one year of resistance. We’ve seen that the genocide has been a form of collective punishment on the people of Gaza who dare to resist a 17-year siege on them which has been inflicted by Israel.”
She added: “They will continue to resist until the genocide is over, and they see the full liberation of their lands and their people.”
Turnout increased in Manchester on Saturday where a dozen pro-Palestine campaign groups have united to form Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine. Three pro-Palestine Jewish groups were among the marchers.
Norma Turner of Manchester PSC said: “The demonstration was much bigger yesterday than it has been for the last two or three weeks. There were a lot more younger people. It was very committed, very lively, very focussed.”
Pro-Palestine demonstrators also took to the streets in Edinburgh and Dublin on Saturday.
The US, facing a backlash for its support for Israel, also saw a wave of protests in many states, with pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathering in New York’s Times Square on Saturday to call for a ceasefire.
And around 3,000 people attended Saturday’s international day of action within sight of the White House in Washington DC.
Amid a heavy police presence, the protesters gathered at Lafayette Park, chanting: “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!”
Italy’s capital had sought to ban any protests from taking place, with local authorities citing “security concerns.” However demonstrations went ahead, with police using tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators.
In the northern German city of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags or chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the DPA news agency reported.
Several thousands of protesters gathered peacefully at Paris’s Place de la Republique in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Many were waving Palestinian flags while holding posters reading “stop the genocide,” “free Palestine,” and “hands off Lebanon.”
There were many other protests of support for the Palestinian people, including in Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and India.
In the Philippines, dozens of activists protested near the US embassy in Manila, where police prevented them from getting closer to the compound.
In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, thousands marched to the heavily guarded US embassy on Sunday. Authorities blocked roads leading to the embassy with razor wire and concrete barriers as more than 1,000 police were deployed around the compound.
Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in the northern Gaza Strip following an Israeli evacuation order in Jabalia, October 6, 2024.
Photo: Reuters
The Israeli military has launched a fresh assault on northern Gaza and ordered all Palestinian civilians living in the north to head south, signaling Israel may be enacting an ethnic cleansing plan that has been reviewed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Known as the “general’s plan” since it was drawn up by retired IDF generals, the plan would result in the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from areas in Gaza north of the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the Israeli military that separates Gaza City and other parts of the north from the south.
The first step of the plan is to transfer the estimated 300,000 Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza, then impose a full siege on the north to starve out remaining Hamas fighters and other Palestinians who remain. Northern Gaza would be declared a “closed military zone,” meaning anyone who remains will be targeted by the IDF.
“Israeli claims about the presence of safe zones in southern Gaza are lies as Israel commits crimes and massacres in all areas of the enclave,” Gaza’s Interior Ministry said. “We call on citizens in northern Gaza to ignore Israeli threats.”
Israeli forces are currently focusing their renewed assault in northern Gaza on the Jabalia refugee camp and have sent tanks into the area for the first time in months. At least 17 people, including nine children, were killed by Israeli attacks on Jabalia overnight Saturday into Sunday.
The Israeli takeover of northern Gaza could pave the way for Jewish settlements in the area, an idea supported by many Israeli ministers and Knesset members.
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