On Land Day, March 30, thousands of peaceful, hopeful and unarmed Palestinian women, men and children gathered at the borders of Gaza for the Great March of Return. Initial reports indicate that at least 16 Palestinian people have been killed, and more than 1,400 were injured as a result of the Israeli Occupation Forces firing into crowds with live ammunition and tear gas.

This peaceful, non-partisan event occurs yearly on March 30 to highlight an injustice that Palestinians experience every day: the loss of their land to an illegal, colonial occupation. In the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, Palestinians non-violently placed their bodies on their own land in an attempt to correct a grave injustice and were met with sniper fire.

The International Coordinating Committee for the Great Return March called on all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, 1948-occupied Palestine and the diaspora to take part in the event, which marked the 42nd anniversary of Palestine Land Day.

“We did not come to fight, but to return to our country” (Source: Oren Ziv/Activstills.org)

In UN Resolution 194 (1949), The United Nations General Assembly clearly resolved that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”

Palestinian civil society plans to continue its peaceful actions each day, until May 15, the day Palestinians mourn the Nakba (Catastrophe) and the day that the US Government plans to move its embassy to Al-Quds/Jerusalem.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, made up of civil society organizations in 14 countries, condemns the Israeli Government’s slaughter of Palestinian people, who were exercising their legal right of protest to be free of illegal occupation, and the universal right of freedom of movement. Once again the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have shown their disregard for human life: they must not be allowed to do so with impunity. Those responsible for these war crimes must face justice.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Call your elected officials and DEMAND that they object vigorously to these unjustifiable killings. Call for IOF snipers and those who gave them their orders to be held responsible internationally. Demand that Israel respect the freedom of movement of all Palestinians.

SHARE THIS MESSAGE AND SAY THEIR NAMES

It is important to name those killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces on Friday. They are not anonymous “casualty figures”, they are young people with family and friends, people who had a future, but put it on the line for Palestine and for freedom of movement. We encourage you to remember the following names when you contact politicians demanding action.

• Naji Abu Hajir – 25 years old
• Mohammed Kamal Al-Najjar
• Wahid Nasrallah Abu Samour – 27 years old
• Amin Mansour Abu Muammar
• Mohammed Naeem Abu Amr
• Ahmed Ibrahim Ashour Odeh – 16 years old
• Jihad Ahmed Fraina
• Mahmoud Saadi Rahmi
• Abdel Fattah Abdel Nabi – 18 years old
• Ibrahim Salah Abu Shaar – 22 years old
• Abd al-Qader Marhi al-Hawajri – 25 years old
• Sari Walid Abu Odeh
• Hamdan Ismail Abu Amsha
• Jihad Zuhair Abu Jamous – 30 years old
• Bader al-Sabbagh – 22 years old
• Mus’ ab Zuhair Essaloul – 23 years old

The FFC will sail as long as the occupation and the blockade continue, demanding the end of world governments’ complicity with these violations of human rights.