Protests over Israeli attack

Demonstrations have been organised in Belfast and Derry over an Israeli assault on Jenin refugee camp in Palestine.

A protest march is planned in Belfast on Saturday in response to an Israeli military attack on a Palestinian refugee camp, which will “demand economic sanctions against Israel”.

Gerry Carroll of People before Profit has called on people across the city to support the demonstration and to “stand with Palestine”.

Israel launched a raid on the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank beginning July 3, using bulldozers, heavily armored vehicles, tanks, drones, and helicopters. Twelve Palestinians, including three children, were killed, while around 120 people have been injured.

The attack on the camp is part of a bloody and long-running campaign of ethnic cleansing by Israel against the Palestinian people.

The march, organized jointly by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Committee (IPSC), Cairde Palestine, United Against Racism Belfast, and Belfast Stands with Palestine, will assemble at Writers’ Square at 12 pm before making its way to City Hall.

Mr. Carroll said: “Palestinians living under military occupation are being massacred with impunity, yet world leaders remain silent.

“This week’s attack on Jenin Refugee camp is just the latest in a long line of atrocities aimed at wiping the Palestinian people off the map.

“Israel’s settler-colonial project is built on a foundation of violence and ethnic cleansing. People in Belfast and elsewhere will not stay silent about the crimes of the apartheid Israeli state.

“Statements of condemnation against Israel are not good enough. On Saturday, we will march to demand economic sanctions against Israel, the expulsion of Israeli diplomats, and the severing of all ties with the Israeli murder machine.

“We send solidarity to the people of Palestine and reaffirm their right to resist Israeli oppression. We encourage people across the city and elsewhere to join Saturday’s demonstration and to stand with Palestine.”

The Derry Branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is also holding an emergency demonstration at Free Derry Corner on Friday. The protest will take place from 6.30 pm.

In a statement, the Derry IPSC said: “The Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin has been under siege by Israeli occupation forces who carried out a brutal onslaught, killing 12 Palestinians, including three children, bombing from the air, destroying countless homes and properties, attacking hospitals, ambulances, destroying roads and infrastructure, leaving the refugee camp without electricity and running water.”

The campaign group said the attacks in Jenin amounted to war crimes.

“Thousands of residents have been displaced, making them refugees all over again. Israel is given full impunity to carry out these war crimes by the international community, even in the face of a mountain of evidence from renowned Human Rights Organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Israeli groups B’Tselem and Yesh Din.

“We must use the power we have as citizens to influence our political representatives at local and wider levels to push governments to impose long-overdue sanctions against this apartheid state.”

Meanwhile, Saoradh and Éistigí Revolutionary Youth also extended their solidarity to the Palestinian people of Jenin and praised the Palestinian defenders.

“Despite the heavy presence of occupational forces, resistance fighters battled openly on the streets with the occupiers,” they said. “We commend the resistance fighters for their courage and bravery in their continual fight for liberation.”

Urgent Appeal