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Palestinian citizens of Israel

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Apartheid in South Africa ended in part due to sanctions and pressure from the international community. It is once again on the international community to ensure that international law is upheld and apartheid sees its demise — this time in Palestine.

Residents of Jaffa protesting on May 15, 2021. (Photo: AP Photo/Heidi Levine)

Over the past three decades, Israel’s main effort to “Judaize” the “mixed cities” inside Israel has been waged through a war of attrition. This has included moving religious settlers into Palestinian communities, as well as using tourism and archeological preservation to take over land. The coexistence model in Israel’s “mixed cities” was always an illusion, and one that the recent protests finally served to smash.

Tal'at Demo on Khury St in Haifa, May 18, 2021 (Photo: Rashad Omari)

Yoav Haifawi reports on how the “Strike for Unity,” the general strike that was observed throughout historic Palestine on May 18, unfolded in Haifa. He says it was a defiant display of unity across all sectors of the Palestinian community, even as ongoing governmental repression intensifies.

May 15, 2021: Palestinians take to the streets of Haifa in the 1948 territory as part of the recent wave of popular resistance against Israeli colonization and occupation across the country, and to protest against massive Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. (Photo by Activestills via Twitter)

Yoav Haifawi continues his reporting from the uprising in Haifa, where the resistance is drawing from all sectors of the Palestinian community, as the Israeli government brings in the Shin Bet to help smash the protests.

Fascist demonstration in Haifa's German Colony, May 11 2021 (Photo: Yoav Haifawi)

Israeli police joined fascist mobs in attacking Palestinian neighborhoods, but this didn’t stop Palestinians in Haifa from joining the uprising taking place across Palestine. “These are historic moments and the people of Haifa are rising like never before,” Yoav Haifawi writes. “They are part of a united Palestinian struggle against their oppressors.”

Armed Israeli settlers arriving in Lydd (Lod) with protection from Israeli forces, May 12, 2021. (Photo: Twitter)

The recent violence in the city Lydd (Lod) and other Palestinian cities in Israel has been described by many as “civil war,” but this narrative is misleading. Rather, what we are witnessing is the Israeli settler state declaring a war on its colonized “citizens,” and Palestinians fighting for their liberation.