Israel

Haidar Eid is an associate professor of English literature at Al Aqsa University in Gaza. He and his students joined the Great March of Return protests near the Israeli border. Eid’s statement below was read out at the Socialist Alliance’s May 18 screening of the Palestinian film The Wanted 18 in Geelong.

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We, the victims of a multi-tiered system of oppression, occupation, colonisation and apartheid, are fighting on behalf of the international community for the rule of law.

Palestinians are hailing the decision by Brazilian music legend Gilberto Gil to pull the plug on a planned performance in Israel.

Meanwhile, dozens of artists are declaring their support for the cultural boycott of Israel following the latest Israeli mass killings of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip. They include bands such as Portishead, Wolf Alice and Slaves.

The world saw two starkly opposed moral cultures on May 14, writes Barry Sheppard.

At the same time as the Israeli Defense Force massacred more than 50 Gazans protesting against the US shifting its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, Matte Gallo writes that Italians are joining protests against the decision of the major cycling race Giro d’Italia to start the contest in Israel.

In various stages of this important Italian sporting event, many activists have protested -- waving flags, chanting slogans and making their presence felt energetically.

A group of youngĀ PalestiniansĀ inĀ GazaĀ has founded ā€œThe Crutchesā€:Ā the firstĀ football (soccer) teamĀ forĀ amputeesĀ injured during the last threeĀ IsraeliĀ attacks on the besieged territory.

Palestinian civil society groups have accusedĀ Giro d’ItaliaĀ cycling race, which started its first legĀ in Israel on May 4, of covering up Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and its secret police’s repression against Giro protests, said Kerry Smith.

ā€œIsrael is carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them,ā€ Amnesty InternationalĀ said on April 27Ā as thousands of Palestinians taking part inĀ Great March of ReturnĀ rallies in Gaza faced Israeli bullets for the fifth week in a row.

Over those weeks, Amnesty said, ā€œthe Israeli military has killed 35 Palestinians and injured more than 5500 others — some with what appear to be deliberately inflicted life-changing injuriesā€.

Fifty Palestinians have been killed in Gaza’s eastern perimeter since March 30, five of them children and two journalists, writes Maureen Clare Murphy. The vast majority were participating in the Great March of Return protests, during which no Israelis have been killed or injured.

In a major victory for the Palestinian rights movement on US college campuses, students atĀ Ā in New York City votedĀ Ā of a referendum supporting divestment from companies profiting from Israel’s human rights violations, writes Nora Barrows-Friedman.

As Palestinians protest in Gaza for the right to return to their land, Israel’s murderous repression has continued with an ever-growing death toll, reports Lisa Gleeson.

Radical US sports writer Dave Zirin asks why a major multinational corporation is sponsoring football (soccer) teams in illegal Israeli settlements.

Palestinians in Gaza had hardly begun their ā€œGreat March of Returnā€ campaign before Israel responded with a level of violence and brutality not seen for some time, writes Lisa Gleeson. Yet their protests continue.

What began as a protest in 1976 after a rash of land confiscations by Israel — met by Israel with the killing of six unarmed Palestinians — Land Day each March 30 is an annual focal point for Palestinian frustration at being forcibly displaced and unable to return home.