With the state of emergency lifted across the West Bank and Gaza, the coronavirus pandemic appears to be winding into a new phase, one of social distancing but inevitable crowds as shops and mosques reopen.
Uprisings across all 50 states continued into this week, with thousands protesting the police murder of George Floyd. A number of pro-Palestine organizations put out powerful statements in solidarity with the actions.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank City of Bethlehem gathered on Tuesday outside the Church of Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus, to hold a vigil in honor of George Floyd and Eyad al-Halaq. 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.”
This is not a moment to highlight the similarities between law enforcement violence in the US and Palestine says Nada Elia, but to work in solidarity to topple the violent system of racial supremacy in the United States.
It’s been two days since Ranad al-Halaq’s only son, 32-year-old Eyad al-Halaq, was gunned down by Israeli police in the Old City of Jerusalem, where he was enrolled at a center for Palestinian adults and children with disabilities. “He was the light of my heart, the light of my eyes, my soul, my angel.”
Many pro-Israel organizations have condemned the systemic racism in the George Floyd killing while remaining silent on Palestinian treatment. J Street did link the Floyd killing to that of Eyad al-Halaq in Jerusalem, but said the US suffers “deeply entrenched… structural racism,” while Palestinians suffer “deeply entrenched occupation.”
Palestine’s counterpart to George Floyd is Eyad Al-Halaq, 32, an autistic man killed by Israeli police on May 30 in occupied Jerusalem. The NYT doesn’t notice.
Eyad al-Halaq was on his way to a school for children and adults with disabilities where he was a student when Israeli police spotted a “suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and shot him. After killing him, officers found that al-Halaq was unarmed.
The BDS movement calls on Palestine solidarity activists in the US and elsewhere to stand with the Movement for Black Lives and other Black-led organizations in their righteous struggle for justice.
Nada Elia writes: “Throughout the history of this country, progressive change has come from the grassroots, against the reactionary few. Now, as at other critical historical junctures, we need to make it clear to those coming under attack for their political and moral integrity that we will mobilize for them. As hate is emboldened, we need to send an unambiguous message: we are still the majority, they are the fringe.”