Another Nakba awaits?
By Gulamhusein A. Abba
For years Palestinians have been taunted with “Where is a
Palestinian Gandhi”? It has been an unwarranted and uncalled for question. The
real question was and continues to be, “Why is Israel not being compelled to
vacate its long lasting and brutal occupation of Palestinian land – an
occupation internationally recognized as being illegal.
A few months back a social-media activist in Gaza started
the idea of a mass non-violent protest. Hamas adopted it and organized the
protest.
The plan envisaged 45 days of protests along the border with
Israel, starting on March 30, which Palestinians observe as Land Day, and
leading up to May 15, the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel, the day
Palestinians observe as Nakba or
catastrophe.
The plan required setting up camps between 700-1000 meters
from Israel’s border fence, outside the Israeli army’s unilaterally imposed
buffer zone, where anyone who enters is liable to be shot.
Tents were pitched to accommodate the protestors.
To a casual observer it might seem rather callous on the
part of Palestinian leaders to plan this action, knowing fully well that the
Israelis are bound to respond with brutal force.
Let it be remembered that no one was dragged by their hair,
or at gun point, to participate in this sit-ins and march. If thousands came it
is because the international community has, through all these years, turned a
deaf ear and a blind eye to their suffering, to their cry for justice
This is no terrorist attack or incitement to violence. This
suicidal march is their last hope to awaken the conscience of the international
community. It is a testimony of the hopelessness of the Palestinians and the
blindness and deafness of the international community.
If it takes the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of
innocent, unarmed, nonviolent martyrs to make the world take notice, the
indomitable Palestinians are ready to pay it.
The leaders of the protest took pains to emphasize that this
was going to be a nonviolent, peaceful march. The participants would carry no
arms, not even stones. Al-Kurd. one of 20 organizers of the planned march, reiterated again
and again that the protest will be completely nonviolent, contrary to how it is
being described in Israeli media.
Israel immediately dubbed it as a Hamas organized event designed
“to wipe Israel off the map”! This in spite of the fact that the flag waved was
not a faction flag but the Palestinian flag. Introducing Hamas into the
equation serves as a justification for Israel to employ violence against them
On its side, while the Palestinians were pitching tents and
preparing for the march. Israel deployed a large contingent of armed forces,
including several infantry brigades, along the border, with orders to shoot to
kill. Israel Defense Forces warned that it would open fire on anyone who tries
to breach the border fence and enter Israel or even come into the unilaterally
imposed buffer zone imposed by Israel inside Gaza
On March 30 the opening day of the protest, an estimated
30,000 Palestinians gathered at the border.18 protesters were killed by IDF and
hundreds injured, making this the deadliest day of the ongoing conflict since
the 2014 Israel Gaza war
With the stage set for an imminent massacre, Kuwait
requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss “grave
concerns at the border” in Gaza, reaffirm "the right to peaceful
protest", express the council's "sorrow at the loss of innocent
Palestinian lives" and call for an "independent and transparent
investigation" of the violence.
A closed meeting was held late evening on March 30. On
March 31 the United States Representative to the UN dismissed the Palestinian
March as “bad actors, who use protest as a cover to incite violence and
endanger innocent lives.”
The Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mandsour,
explained what happened on the Gaza border. “Those who wrought the violence and
the killing are the Israeli armed forces. Our people in the Gaza Strip,
raising, not a banner of faction but the Palestinian flag, demonstrated
peacefully, peacefully, peacefully and they were attacked by the Israeli armed
forces. It is a massacre by them.”
UN Secretary General and the EU diplomatic chief called
for an independent investigation but Israel’s Defense Minster rejected the
idea.
Israel has said it will not soften its response to the
Hams-led demonstrations and may target militant groups within Gaza
On April 7, 9 Palestinians were killed, 293 shot, over
1,000 wounded. This makes it at least 30 killed since the protest began last
Friday. All for no other reason than demonstrating non-violently on their own
land.
“March of Return” could end in Palestinians attempting to
cross the Gaza border on May 15, the last day of the protest and the
anniversary of the 1948 Nakba. This
could well be their second Nakba
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