In response to the bombing attacks that have left 205 people dead in Gaza, Palestinians across the West Bank and inside the ’48 have organized to protest the crimes. In almost every district, mass marches and clashes have occurred. The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign has joined networks and committees such as the National and Islamic forces, the Committee against the Siege in the mobilizations that are rocking the entire West Bank.
In Ramallah some 5,000 people headed the calls for demonstrations. Part of the demonstrators marched to the old road of el-Bireh, the location of the central offices of the so-called Civil Administration. The road, a site of daily confrontations at the beginning of the Second Intifada, was today again the site of heavy clashes. At the same time, in Qalandiya, the anger of the people erupted into violent confrontations against Occupation forces at the checkpoint.
Popular demonstrations have occurred in nearly all the communities already organized for weekly actions against the Wall. In Jayyous, hundreds took to the streets in protest. Stones are hailing down on the Occupation soldiers in the neighboring village of Azzoun, where protestors are blocking the main road. In Ni’lin people have mobilized, fighting against soldiers in the fields outside the village.
Most of the West Bank’s main cities have seen popular actions. In Tulkarm and Nablus, hundreds went out in the streets to protest against the bombings of the Gaza Strip. In Hebron, university students led a mass march towards the old city where they stood up against soldiers and settlers in hours of clashes on Shuhada Street. Even in Jerusalem, people mobilized in demonstrations along Salahuddin Street in the city center and in the villages around the city.
Inside the Green Line, Palestinians in Um el-Fahem, Haifa and Nazareth are staging angry protests.
The rage of the people is not only directed against the Occupation forces, but also at the complicity of Arab regimes that have lacked any action so far; against the Palestinian National Authority which is still persuing its relations with the criminal Occupation authorities; and against the world community that until today refuses to impose the sanctions that would pressure the Occupation to respect Palestinian rights.
More demonstrations are organized for tomorrow. More than 205 people have died today and hundreds more are in critical condition. Hospitals in Gaza lack the medicine, blood and space to treat the injuries, and only the most seriously wounded are being admitted. The people in the West Bank are committed to continue their mobilization and ensure that Palestinian martyrs have not died in vain.
