Solidarity with Gaza in West Bank .. and around the world

"One blood, one enemy."  That has been the spirit in West  Bank.  Anger is boiling over as Palestinians in West Bank feel they  cannot sit back and watch their defenseless brethren get butchered.   Unrest began in West Bank (East Jerusalem) after the murder of  17-year-old Muhammad Khdeir early July 2014 and ever since there have  been several clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.  After the start  of Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, there has been an eerie lull in  West Bank - a state of shock and helplessness. 

As a Palestinian  from Gaza once described, the West Bankers are even more unfortunate  than the Gazans.  Gaza is under a single occupation - the Israeli  occupation. The West Bank is under a double occupation - occupied by  Israel and its ally, Mahmoud Abbas' PA.   Major portions of West Bank  are under Israeli occupation while smaller enclaves are nominally  governed by the Palestinian Authority under Abbas.  A widespread protest  in West Bank in solidarity with Gaza could be still more brutal as the  civilian population of West Bank would be punished by Israeli forces as  well as their trained subordinates, the Palestinian police serving the  PA.  A small demonstration of 200 on July 16 was abruptly stopped by 80  armed, helmeted and shielded Palestinian policemen before it reached an  illegal Israeli settlement nearby.  Yet that suppression hasn't erased  the grief and pain felt by the West Bankers for the mass murders in  Gaza.  "I'm a son of the Palestinian people, the Gazans are also  Palestinians.  Our  message to the occupation is that we are one people, one blood and we  have one enemy; the occupation is destroying Gaza and we have the  right to resist through all means, from rocks to rockets." This was stated by Dia Ali, a resident of West Bank.  Protesters carried Palestinian flags with signs "Stand by Gaza. Stop the genocide" and chanted, "Gaza you are sacrificing your blood for our  dignity."  A car among the  demonstrators played a Hamas song. 

After all, in the general  elections of 2006, Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestine in both  West Bank and Gaza, routing PA hollow.  In fact majority of the votes in  support of Hamas came from the West Bank.  Yet, it's the PA that is at  present illegally occupying the Ramallah compound and continues to rule  at the behest of the West and Israel who were left red-faced over Hamas'  victory.  It's a bit like the Democrats getting defeated by the Republicans in  the polls but the Dem president refusing to budge and continuing to  govern from the Oval office. "Democracy" is upheld by the West only as  long as it suits their interest.  Otherwise, there are no such concepts  as norms or principles and no amount of violations are unacceptable to  protect that interest.  Since 2006, the champions of "democracy" have  secretly vowed never to talk about elections in Palestine again.  They  couldn't handle the truth and wasted no time strengthening the loser  with support and money. 

However, senior PA members have been warning of  the risk that anger could any time get out of control as Palestinians  of all walks of life are getting increasingly desperate at the continued  suffering of the Gazans.  But an all out uprising in West Bank is  unlikely, not because the West Bankers are afraid of the chaos as  erupted during the first and second Intifada.  But because there are no  funds, none to support them, no experienced leadership except the PA  traitors who are with Israel and therefore no one to wisely plan a  movement.  People are generally called to stand in solidarity by social  networking media like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.  Popular protests  are often organized haphazardly with a low turnout in response to  initiatives from young activists and civil society groups.  That's as  far as they can go under the circumstances.  The Palestinian Authority  is just as much their enemy as Israel. 

What's urgently required  is for the PA to immediately stop its security coordination with  Israel, to speak to its own people to establish a strong political  movement, contact the International Criminal Court immediately and send  envoys around the world.  But that is a far cry from the situation now.   Probably in any case, such an initiation would be brutally quelled by  Israel within the first couple of weeks.   The situation at present is a picture of helplessness for all Palestinians -  Gaza and West Bank alike - especially when we watch the deep slumber  and treacherous snores of the oil-rich gulf leaders.

Since July 8, Israel has carried out hundreds of air raids in the  Gaza Strip.  Over 1,000 Palestinians have died until July 18 and more  than 5,000 seriously wounded.

Do not miss the piece put up by Stuart Littlewood, July 26, "Britain dies of shame .. Why is Hamas banished to outer darkness?" at Redress Online.

Excerpt:  " .... as Her Majesty’s Government plays the useful idiot to Israel’s crazed ambition.  Today in London crowds are gathering to vent their anger in a mass  demonstration and march to parliament to “stop the massacre in Gaza” and  call for an arms embargo against Israel. This follows last weekend’s  huge protest outside the Israeli embassy and campaigns against the BBC’s  pro-Israel bias in reporting the assault on Gaza.  There is growing resentment among British people at being endlessly  shamed by their government’s complicity in the mega-injustices and  non-stop crimes inflicted on the native people of the Holy Land,  exemplified by Whitehall’s attempts to whitewash Israel’s latest  genocidal offensive.  And on this the 19th day of Israel’s blitzkrieg comes news of a  brief humanitarian “pause”, after which the killing spree will continue  while Israel attempts to eradicate Gaza’s tunnels.

A few days earlier Baroness  Jenny Tonge, in the House of Lords, asked the government what action it  planned to take to open diplomatic relations with Hamas, to which Baroness Warsi, Senior Minister of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, replied: 'Our policy towards Hamas is clear – we have no contact with Hamas, which  is a proscribed terrorist organization. Hamas must renounce violence,  recognize Israel and accept previously signed agreements. Hamas must  make a credible movement towards these conditions, which remain the  benchmark against which their intentions are judged, before we consider a  change in our stance.'  Warsi is a Muslim and should know better. How can anyone sensibly  recognize Israel when it won’t agree its borders? Has she ever put it to  the Israelis that they too must renounce violence, recognize Palestine  and accept previously signed agreements – the benchmark against which  their intentions will be judged?"

IMAGES:  SOLIDARITY AROUND THE WORLD