In a powerful display of solidarity with the Palestinian people, more than 150,000 people marched under the banner of ‘The National March for Palestine’, from Whitehall to the U.S. Embassy, in London on February 15. The protestors raised their voices against U.S. and Israeli governments’ efforts to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from Gaza. Through banners and militant slogans, they expressed their firm opposition to the ethnic cleansing that the US government proposes to organise in Gaza. Speakers at the rally condemned the U.S. administration’s pressure on Jordan and Egypt to take in the Palestinian people of Gaza as refugees. They called it an outright violation of the rights of the Palestinian people over their own homeland and a blatant attempt to carry out ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
It has been reported that in a letter addressed to the British Foreign Minister and Trade Minister, more than 60 members of the British Parliament and officials from various political parties in Britain have demanded a ban on goods and products imported from illegal Israeli settlements. They have criticised the hypocrisy of the British government, which on the one hand claims to uphold international law, but on the other hand, by continuing to trade with Israel, it is legitimising Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people and its open violation of international law.
Global support for the Palestinian people
Huge demonstrations were organised over the 15-16 February weekend, in many other countries around the world, including Canada, the U.S., Ireland, Norway, Belgium, Germany, South Korea and Australia. In Denmark, hundreds of activists protested at the Maersk shipping company’s Copenhagen headquarters on 24 February, against its role in supplying weapons to Israel.
More than 230 global Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) have written to government ministers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain, to take steps to halt arms exports to Israel.
The 38th annual summit of the African Union (consisting of 55 member countries of the African continent), held in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa from February 15 to 16, strongly condemned the Israeli occupation and war on Gaza. The summit denounced it as “brutal aggression” against Palestinian civilians and infrastructure. In its concluding statement, the summit rejected the Israeli occupation’s violations of international law and called for accountability. It declared that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people and must be prosecuted internationally. It demanded the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners and affirmed that the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land is unacceptable and violates international law. The summit urged participating nations to cease cooperation and normalization of relations with the Israeli regime until it ends its occupation and aggression against Palestine.