Palestinians in the occupied West Bank City of Bethlehem gathered on Tuesday night outside the Church of Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus, to hold a vigil in honor of George Floyd and Eyad al-Halaq.
The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25 has sparked widespread protests across the globe as people demand an end to police brutality and racial injustices in the US.
Just five days after Floyd was killed, Israeli police gunned down Eyad al-Halaq, a Palestinian man who had autism. He was killed on his way to a school for people with disabilities in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli police claimed they confused his cell phone for a gun. It was later discovered, after he was killed, that he was unarmed. The officers responsible for al-Halaq’s death have still not been charged with his killing.
In the wake of al-Halaq’s killing, protests expressing solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the Palestinian struggle for liberation have popped up across Israel and the occupied territories, with many people drawing parallels between Israel’s excessive use of force against Palestinians, and police brutality in the US.
In Bethlehem, demonstrators stood around a poster depicting photos of Floyd and al-Halaq with the message “Our struggles are one. #BlackLivesMatter #PalestinianLivesMattter.”
People laid flowers, lit candles, and chanted “black lives matter” along with other messages of solidarity and support for protesters in the US.
Mahmoud Zawahreh, a local activist, told Mondoweiss that “it is important for Palestinians to stand with all the oppressed people in the world, of all nationalities, who are the victims of racism and persecution.”
“Today we are asking for all the people who are under oppression to stand together against imperialism and racism,” Zawahreh continued.
“Our message for the protesters in the US, from the popular resistance in Palestine, is to stay strong and continue. We ask you to stay strong and continue the protests.”
Israeli Jews, including soldiers and police, are taught that every Palestinian is a terrorist. (Ronald Reagan thought so, too.) Then they accuse Palestinians of teaching their kids that Jews are their enemy. And they are afraid of every Palestinian, even the most harmless.
I remember Daniel Barenboim, after playing a concert in the West Bank, being told by a little girl that he was the only Jew she had ever seen who was neither a soldier nor a police officer.
http://www.dci.plo.ps/en/article/15442/Dr-Hanan-Ashrawi-Accountability-and-Justice-are-the-path-to-peace
Palestine Liberation Organization Press Release:
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi: ‘Accountability and Justice are the path to peace.’
(June 5, 2020): “Fifty-three years ago, Israel usurped control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. This illegal military occupation has defied all legal parameters, with Israel entrenching its colonial control over Palestinian land and rights through a systematic policy of displacement, replacement, and land grab.
“For over half a century, Israel has been able to consistently and brazenly defy international law and inalienable Palestinian rights because the international community unduly afforded the occupation exceptional treatment and protection from accountability. Contrary to the legal, political, and moral obligations of states to uphold international law, they persisted in rewarding lawless Israeli behavior while demanding Palestinian acquiescence and docility. The result has been a toxic culture of impunity and the normalization of racial discrimination and brutal oppression.
“This abdication of responsibility has encouraged Israel to trample on the foundational principles of international law and to negate the Palestinian people’s rights and identity, while expecting and even demanding a continuation of the very exceptionalism that created this culture of impunity.
“Now, as Israel implements its annexation plans, the international community faces a sobering and decisive moment of truth. The community of nations must choose between the relevance of the international order and the continuation of Israeli exceptionalism. States either declare they are ready to accept an apartheid state and extraterritoriality or they stand up and exact consequences for such grave transgressions against international law. They cannot stand in a grey neutral area.
(cont’d)
“The Palestinian people have endured unspeakable suffering and oppression for nearly a century. But we have not wavered and we will not surrender to brutality and erasure. The Palestinian people will continue to stand tall, empowered by the justice of their struggle and the overwhelming international solidarity, which views the Palestinian cause for freedom, dignity, and prosperity as inseparable from the global struggle for human rights and social justice. Together with freedom defenders worldwide, we will continue to demand and work for justice and accountability because they are the cornerstones of peace. And we will prevail.”