Largest Protest in History across Israel, Gaza, and West Bank
| revcom.us
On May 18, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Israel, along with Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, went on general strike and took to the streets protesting the Gaza war, the Israeli occupation, discrimination and violence against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem. It was one of the largest protests, if not the largest ever, within Israel—where there is a long history of Palestinian resistance to their oppression.
For the first time in years, the protests involved Palestinians who face different forms of oppression under Israel: those locked down in Gaza, which functions like a massive outdoor prison; those subjected to constant abuse and terror in territories occupied by Israel in a war in 1967; and those living within Israel proper who are second class citizens in conditions similar to those faced by Black people in the Jim Crow South in the U.S. in the period before the civil rights movement:
Hundreds of thousands of people went on strike in Palestine to protest Israel’s recent airstrikes pic.twitter.com/DF88zsUNAi
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 19, 2021
Demonstrators gathered in central squares, waving Palestinian flags:
“Strike for Dignity” in Bethlehem, occupied West Bank. Credit: @yumna_patel
Signs, chants and speeches condemned Israel’s apartheid-like oppression of the Palestinian people:
Ramallah, West Bank. Credit: @Lemapal
Brutal Israeli repression injured dozens:
For the first time in decades, Palestinians held a general strike throughout historic Palestine. At Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, peaceful protestors waving Palestinian flags and chanting for freedom were fired at with stun grenades and doused in shit-smelling liquid.#إضراب_فلسطين pic.twitter.com/HEJXPQUOlq
— Nathan Thrall (@NathanThrall) May 18, 2021
The general strike followed days of worldwide protests:
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