Photo Review, December 12 to 21
Stepped Up Actions
Worldwide to Stop
Israeli Genocide
CANADA
Ottawa
On December 17 at 2:00 pm, more than 2,000 people gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the 10th consecutive weekend march for Gaza since October 7. In a brief intervention before marching through the streets of downtown Ottawa, a spokesperson for the Palestine Youth Movement reminded everyone of the most recent deliberate killing by Israel of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa while reporting on the bombing of a school sheltering people in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. In the same attack, his colleague, Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, who lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in a previous Israeli bombing, was wounded. In his eulogy, Wael said journalists are carrying a "human and noble message" for the world and will continue to work despite Israeli attacks.
The spokesperson, speaking about the journalists in Gaza, said they are the models for us to follow. Speaking of the 18,800 people who have died so far at the hands of the Israeli Zionists, she said: "Our role, our responsibility is right here against the Canadian government who continues to arm Israel and support it. Our people in Gaza understand that to live is not just to accept life under oppression, to live is to fight for freedom and fight for your people's liberation and fight to continue life on your land. I want you all to remember them as we march today and to keep them in our hearts and in our minds not only during our marches or when there is no ceasefire, but all year and all the years to come until Palestine is liberated, because the struggle is not just momentary. The struggle continues until all of our demands are met, which includes an end to the siege on Gaza, an end to occupation and a liberated Palestine from the river to the sea with the right of return for all refugees."
December 17
Hull
A militant picket was held in front of Federal MP for Hull-Aylmer Greg Fergus' office in Gatineau on December 18, as part of a Canada-Wide Day of Action -- No Peace for MPs Until Palestine is Free.
December 18
Halifax
Bridgewater
December 17
Quebec
December 17
Montreal
Hundreds of people began gathering in downtown Montreal, December 17 at the call of numerous organizations, amongst them the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Montreal4Palestine, and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights. By the time the crowd began listening to the speakers, it had swelled to over a thousand.
A spokesperson from PYM said: "Last week, the Canadian government voted for a ceasefire in the United Nations General Assembly. This is a resolution that means nothing. It means nothing on the ground. But it is symbolic. It is symbolic of the power of the people who come out and protest" -- in response to which participants offered warm applause. "And it's because of all of you here today who have continued to show up week after week," she added. "But we know that this is not enough. We know that a ceasefire alone is not enough. We demand an immediate lifting of the illegal siege on Gaza. Gaza has been under siege for over 17 years," to which the crowd responded: Shame! Lift the Siege on Gaza Now!
She ended saying: "No food! No water, nothing is allowed in Gaza and yet the people remain steadfast. They are the cradle of our resistance. We also demand that all our Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails be released, all of them! And finally we must demand an end to all Western complicity in this genocidal occupation."
Next up was a young woman originally from Gaza. "I'm here today to speak about the very reality of being from Gaza, the reality of being in a city that has been an open air prison for almost two decades. A city that doesn't have an airport. A city where access to water and electricity [...] is a constant struggle.
"As a 20-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, I consider that I have been able to visit my beautiful homeland five times. Some say that Palestinians leave Gaza as an escape, but the truth is the opposite. Every trip to Gaza that I take, [is] my escape from this world and a re-connection to my family, my homeland, my culture. Being [in] Gaza means that I'm finally at peace, that I'm home, that I'm surrounded with the people that I love.
"I also want to say that from the five times I have been to Gaza, I would never describe Gaza as a city of destruction and death. Despite the multiple aggressions Gaza has gone through, this beautiful city of mine has maintained its joy of life in every way that you can imagine it.
"If you need to know one thing about the people in Gaza, it's that they are vibrant and full of life and resilient and hopeful. Really, the Palestinians have a way of finding contentment and cheerfulness in anything and everything that life has given to them. I have spent this last summer of 2023 with my family in Gaza celebrating weddings, graduation ceremonies, hosting family dinners here and there all over Gaza from Rafah to Khan Younis to Gaza City.
"Today marks the 71st day of the genocide in Gaza and the pain that my people are going through is unexplainable. I also want to continue on saying that the Palestinian fight is not just this aggression. Please understand that the Palestinian fight is also the ongoing blockade that has been put on Gaza for almost 16 years. [...] If I [have] one message [to give] to the occupiers, it will [be to] tell them to be aware of our generation. Know that you cannot and you will never erase our Palestinian identity.' As we say, the old might die but the young will never forget. And they will continue to carry on the fight until we see a fully liberated Palestine from its river to its sea.
"And finally a message for everyone supporting the cause. Please continue to fight and stay resilient with us. We absolutely need you. Continue to fight and remain resilient with us until we see a truly independent and liberated Palestine. Thank you all! Solidarity with Palestine!" -- to which the crowd responded: Israel, Get Lost, Palestine Isn't Yours!, One: We are the People. Two:We Won't be Silent. Three: Stop the Bombing Now, Now!"
The next speaker was a neurosurgeon and a health care worker who said: "I represent many doctors, nurses, therapists, scientists, and health care professionals, who stand heart broken and angry to see the deliberate and the merciless killing of people by [their] tens and thousands. And it's not just about those who were killed, may their rest in peace, but also the more than 60,000 who have been wounded, who need care, the 25,000 children who have become orphans, and a whole population, more than 2 million, who have become homeless without even the most basic needs of life, of just water or food."
"They are under complete siege and suffocation from criminals. And so we stand in solidarity with them, and we stand in solidarity with our fellow health care workers in Palestine, doctors, nurses, paramedics, who are honestly heroes." The crowd responded with loud and sustained applause.
"Let's push at every single level of decision-makers so that at least our own country does not stand complicit with the genocide and maybe we can make the genocide stop and we can bring for Palestinians dignity and value and peace. May peace be with and within all of you. Free, Free Palestine!"
As the crowd began marching towards busy St. Catherine Street, people kept joining the march. After two hours, the crowd had swelled to close to 2,500 people as it approached the Israeli consulate where the demonstration ended with more speeches in praise of the resilience of the Palestinian people.
December 16
Toronto
December
16
December 17
North Bay
December 18
Windsor
A spirited Let Gaza Live rally and march were held on December 17 in the middle of a busy shopping district in Windsor's east end. The latest in a series of weekly actions organized by Windsor4Palestine in different neighbourhoods and areas of the city, the action began with a 2 pm rally in the parking lot of the Eastown Plaza at the intersection of Tecumseh and Lauzon Roads. There participants listened to several speakers, most of them Palestinian Canadian youth. At the conclusion of the rally, participants marched, shouting slogans the entire way, along a traffic-filled Tecumseh Road to the entrance of another busy plaza several blocks away and then back again. Many people honked their horns and saluted the marchers as they passed with their signs and Palestinian flags flying high, shouting Ceasefire Now! From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free! and other familiar slogans -- something that has been a constant no matter where in the city the actions are held.
December 17
Calgary
December
17
Edmonton
Prince
George
On December 17, Prince George residents from all walks of life once again came together to show their unwavering support for Palestine. The action was met with horn honking and thumbs up from drivers passing by as demonstrators waved flags and placards calling for a Ceasefire Now! Stand With Palestine! End the Genocide! Free Palestine!
December
17
UNITED STATES
Washington,
DC
Sixty protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and protesting the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide against Palestine were arrested on December 19 for holding a demonstration in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. Demonstrators called for an end to U.S. arming of Israel and to choose life, for Palestine, for immigrants and refugees, for all. Though the Capitol Building is public, demonstrating inside has been made illegal. Those protesting rejected this and were arrested for "crowding, obstructing or incommoding."
An earlier October protest opposing Israeli genocide in Gaza took place in the rotunda of the House of Representatives' main office building, the Cannon House. About 300 people were arrested. Another protest outside the Democratic National Committee meeting in November saw demonstrators barricade the exit with Democratic representatives inside, demanding they join calls for a ceasefire. The nearby Capitol complex was briefly locked down. Given the size and repeated actions at the Capitol in support of Palestine, in December, the majority of House Democrats, rather than joining those in the U.S. and worldwide demanding a ceasfire and end to the Gaza siege, instead launched a task force to address "security concerns."
December 19
New
York City
December 16
December 17
Grand Central Station, December 18
Albany, NY
December 16
Providence, RI
Brown University,
December 12
Boston, MA
December 17
Cleveland, OH
San Francisco, CA
December 18
Oakland, CA
December 16
EUROPE
England
London
December
16
December 21
Gillingham
December 16
Birmingham
December 16
Newcastle
December
17
Oxford
December 16
Bristol
Picket at Elbit Systems
military manufacturer, December 21
Scotland
Glasgow
December 16
Edinburgh
December 16
Cardiff, Wales
Oslo, Norway
Netherlands
Rotterdam
Organizers and residents in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, have placed around 8,000 pairs of shoes in places around the city to express solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza under months of Israeli onslaught. The Israeli attacks and mass murder of Palestinian children were highlighted by the Plant an Olive Tree Foundation in its remembrance event held on December 20. Esther van der Most, the director of the foundation, conveyed the gravity of the situation. "In the last 75 days, more than 8,000 children have been killed in Gaza. We collected these shoes to draw attention to how many children are being talked about. This way, people can feel something about them, and Palestinians can be seen as humans. ... We are here to mourn and commemorate the killed children, but above all, to say: 'Enough!' Stop killing Palestinian children. Stop the occupation, stop everything," he added.
December
20
Berlin, Germany
December
16
France
Paris
December 17
Toulouse
Evry
December
15
Athens, Greece
National Congress of
Students, December 16
Madrid, Spain
December 18
ASIA
Jenin, Palestine
Rally at Arab-American Univeristy, December 17
Istanbul, Turkey
Sana'a, Yemen
Amman, Jordan
December 18
AFRICA
Capetown,
South Africa
News agencies report President Cyril Ramaphosa saying that South Africa has submitted all necessary paperwork to the International Criminal Court (ICC), bringing war crime charges against Israel over its genocidal war in Gaza.
December 16
LATIN
AMERICA
Havana,
Cuba
On the first day of the Second Ordinary Session of the Cuban Parliament on December 20, in its 10th Legislature, Cuban parliamentarians ratified a text that expresses indignation at the genocide against the people of Palestine, and highlights the failure of the current international order to prevent this massacre. It also condemns the murders of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 70 per cent of whom are children and women, as a consequence of the indiscriminate bombings by Israel since October 7.
It also stresses that the current situation is the consequence of 75 years of Israel's practices of illegal occupation and colonization.
The text condemns the Zionist regime's attacks on hospitals, schools, refugee camps, United Nations facilities, blocks, homes and other civilian infrastructure, as well as the deprivation of water, food, electricity and the blockade of humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza.
It also denounces the deliberate murders of dozens of journalists.
All these actions, the declaration stresses, constitute serious violations of International Humanitarian Law, International Law, and war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Cuban lawmakers also criticized the U.S. Government's responsibility and complicity in this genocide, by obstructing the Security Council's action through the antidemocratic and obsolete veto power to protect the excesses of the Israeli Government.
The impunity with which Israel has historically acted can only be explained by its confidence that it will have no consequences due to the U.S. Government's support, the text stressed.
The parliamentarians made an urgent call for an immediate ceasefire and the beginning of negotiations between the parties.
They also reiterated the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the conflict, based on the creation of two States, which would allow the Palestinian people the right to self-determination and to have an independent and sovereign State, based on the pre-1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In Artemisa province, more than 7,000 people marched in protest at the massacre that Israel is carrying out against the Palestinian people. "From José Martí we learned that nature has placed the need to see justice done in some souls and the need to flout and affront it in others," said Gledys Crespo Perdomo, an official with the municipal education division, to a crowd of students, workers and provincial authorities. "Palestine needs no truce, but recognition of its territory, its nation and its right to self-determination and sovereignty," Gledys said.
OCEANIA
Australia
Melbourne
December 16
Blocking
Israeli shipping company Zim, December 19
Kayakers block passage of
Israeli container ship, December 21
This article was published in
Volume 53
Number 33 - December 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53339.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca