As I have mentioned in previous articles, in the absence of a political settlement, Palestinians will undertake unilateral measures to pressure Israel for concessions and recognition. On March 30, the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ), a nongovernmental organization comprised primarily of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim supporters but also from notable American personalities including Dr. Cornel West and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, will commemorate Land Day - a day in which six Israeli Arabs were killed thirty-six years ago for protesting what they viewed as discriminatory measures by the government. Peaceful marches are scheduled to occur along Israel's borders in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and before Israeli embassies worldwide.
The GMJ aims to eliminate "the Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and Judaisation policies affecting the people, land and sanctity of Jerusalem" and insists that that its solidarity mission will be conducted nonviolently. The GMJ does not advocate a military solution to achieve their goals like Hamas and Hezbollah; however their militant agenda may certainly be implied.
The organization's logo shows a map of Palestine in place of Israel. They view Israel as an illegitimate, neo-colonial and racist entity which must be liberated. The GMJ rejects a two-state solution and peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state. Instead, it insists on "renewing the struggle to liberate Palestine," a common euphemism for the destruction of Israel.
It is unclear how many activists will participate. If social media is any indicator, there are dozens of Facebook pages supporting the protests, with over 9,200 "likes" on the GMJ fan page. However, many supporters could be "armchair activists" primarily in Europe and North America. The actual number of participants may be significantly lower. We shall soon see.
Nonetheless, protests in support of the GMJ have already occurred throughout the Arab world. On March 25, David Saranga, an Israeli diplomat visiting Morocco, was evacuated after 100,000 demonstrators protested his presence by hoisting Palestinian flags and shouting "the people want to free al-Aqsa" and "a million martyrs are going to Jerusalem." Saranga also witnessed swastika symbols and the burning of Israeli flags.
Last weekend, dozens of activists from the GMJ rallied before the Israeli Embassy in Turkey. One protestor allegedly asserted, "Millions of people will gather at the borders of Palestine and will be willing to die for the cause and for Jerusalem." Other members chanted "death to Israel" and "death to America."
Jordanian officials confirmed on March 25 that they will allow protestors to march in the Jordan Valley as long as protestors do not infiltrate the West Bank. For its part, Israel is taking these actions seriously and will deploy riot control soldiers, although some intelligence officers believe West Bank Palestinians will not actively participate because they do not wish to jeopardize their relative economic and security prosperity.
If Palestinian rights were truly the GMJ's raison d'etre, it would organize rallies and protests against Palestinian discrimination in Lebanon where 300,000 Palestinian refugees live in overcrowded camps and dire social and economic conditions. They are also legally barred from owning property and from working in certain areas.
During the last decade, Jordanian authorities arbitrarily rescinded more than 2,700 Palestinians of their Jordanian citizenship, depriving them of basic access to health care and education. In Syria, more than 5,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their camps in Latakia after government forces bombarded the city.
While some GMJ activists may genuinely support Palestinian rights, there is a large component which advocates Israel's liquidation. Moreover, the movement should be discredited for its own hypocrisy of proclaiming to champion Palestinian rights and singling out Israel, while ignoring the abuses taking place on a daily basis in the Arab world.
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For decades The only True friend in the middle east the United States had was Israel, The only true friend Israel had was The United States & Obama is not a friend & I am pretty sure Netanyahu feels that as well.
Michelle Obama had said we need to change our traditions & history & it seems to be here & if this administration & Islam gets it's way our planet will be living a lie, propaganda.
Besides, Jews aren't one issue voters; we always vote Democrat and always will (I'm proud to say).
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WB6EfuNDZWQ/T3LsC0zPA4I/AAAAAAAAG_M/atsnMJ1aBrQ/s640/gaza+antisem.jpg
Nothing anti-Semitic about that right?
F&F
As for the commentators, before speaking about the "partition plan" and "Israel made Palestinian Refugees its citizens" and much more of this completely baseless argumentation, please learn history. Israel did not make "refugees" citizens, it allowed "natives" to stay in their land after expelling the bigger half of the population. The partition plan ends actually with an "s", so which one are you talking about? and which one actually went into final vote in 1947?..
Either way, everyone has the right for an opinion, and in mine, within a decade if not less Palestinians will be referred to as the "natives" and the Israelis as the "colonizers" within the one state that will exist for the two nations, and history books will be speaking of the 7 decades of zionist state-led terrorism and apartheid... mark my words.
As for Israeli leaders being heckled all over the world, that will continue until there is justice for Palestinians. It would be prudent for Israel to stop building more settlements and end the occupation.
that simple.
Israel is in a very good palce our days... much better then 60 years ago.
and the building of the land is gonna continue...at the end the Palis will have a state with large nice jewish minority...
They show this daily by their refusal to allow the descendants of the refugees from the failed Arab wars of 1948 and 67 to attain citizenship. Can you imagine if the US had locked up Cuban refugees in camps for 50+ years until we "liberated" Cuba? Can you imagine if the Arab refugees who fled to the US in 1948 had been denied US citizenship until the conflict was settled? Of course not.
Of tens of millions of refugees caused by the hundreds of conflicts around the globe these past several decades, only the Arabs lock up people for 6 decades. They continue to punish the Palestinians because the Palestinians represent the shame of the Arab nation. They are a reminder that 300+ million Arabs, to their humiliation, couldn't kill a couple of million Jews. And until they can find a way to regain their manhood, they will continue to hate Israel, and punish the Palestinians.
One of your many mistakes.
RP leves you standing Rosin.
You continue to make it sound like that the Palestinians had no reason to "reject partition," and that such rejection somehow implicitly justifies their continued dispossession. Please recognize that repeating this Zionist talking-point does nothing to further peace.
While there certainly was/is an argument to be made for a Jewish safe haven following the horrors of the Holocaust, why was/is the onus of this placed exclusively on the Palestinians, and only on their land, to the exclusion of the very Europeans responsible for the persecution in the first place?
Or, the other European countries’ abominably restrictive immigration policies barring the entry of fleeing Jewish refugees into their own countries (including sadly the US as well)?
Or, the Zionists who were fanning the flames of fear in Palestine by openly advocating the forcible creation of a Jewish State?
The answer is simple. Of the all the entities involved in this catch-22, the Palestinians were the weakest and easiest upon which to impose, despite having the least to do with the European pogroms against Jews in the first place.
This is the context in which Palestinians find being awarded half of their own land in 1948, by the very Europeans responsible for the pogroms no less, not just hypocritical but offensive.
Again, this is not to say there should not be an Israel, but to properly frame the issue. We will not acheive peace by repeatedly ignoring or belittling the legitimate grievances of the dispossessed.
You seem to be reading a lot into a logo! I've heard plenty of Israeli's refer to Judea and Samaria, rather than the West Bank, and create plenty of maps not recognizing the status of Palestine. It's easy to attack these "messages" without knowing more.
What about the underlying issues here, of the loss of land of these people? That is the substance here, rather than the rhetoric. The reality of life for Palestinians, in Israel Jerusalem and the West Bank, no one seems to be grappling with those questions.
http://gm2j.co/
the ONLY country that adopted their Palestinian Arab refugees and made them fully fledged citizens is-- Israel!!!
The Arab countries, while paying lip service to Palestinian Arabs, keeps millions of them languishing in camps and denying them citizenship and often even basic human rights.
Yes, resolved with Israel's destruction. You must have been like those people who thought that letting Germany annexed Czechoslovakia would "resolve the issue."
These people are Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Americans. They belong in the countries they were born and raised in.
Severe oppression of Muslims by other Muslims doesn't interest them much.
Various flotilla moored within sight of dilapidated Palestinian camps in Lebanon, the inhabitants of which daily suffer oppression and denial of basic human rights.
Not a SINGLE reporter visited these camps!