Palestinian Protesters Unite Against Israel

By Jack Resnick

Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza, Israel, and East Jerusalem united to protest Israel’s Nation-State Law on October 1. All civil activities halted as streets, business, schools, and shopping malls closed in solidarity with the movement.

Leaders of Arab and Palestinian political factions cited the event as a joint strike under the umbrella organization of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the official representative body of Palestinian citizens in Israel. Mohammed Barakeh, the leader of the committee, noted to Reuters that “the strike is a message to the world that the cause of apartheid and racism is something that should not only be dealt with internally, but it should be talked about globally.”

According to the Palestinian News Agency, at least 93 Palestinians were injured and 37 shot with live bullets and tear gas canisters in a confrontation on the coast of the northern Gaza Strip.

The protesters also denounced the Israeli court’s September 5 ruling to allow the demolition of the West Bank Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar. The decision has been met with pushback from the international community: the British consulate in Israel tweeted that, “in accordance with our long-standing policy, we condemn such a move, which would strike a major blow to prospects for a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital.”

Member of the Israeli Knesset Yousef Jabareen of the Arab Joint List party, stated to Haaretz “that the strike was carried out against the backdrop of discrimination and racism against Arab society and that Arab citizens are not ready to be second-class citizens.”

The solidarity strike also marks the eighteenth anniversary of the October 2000 Second Intifada and remembers the 13 Israeli Arabs that were killed in armed confrontations with Israeli police.