The ongoing series of protests that began on March 30 near the Israeli border have been met with murderous repression, with about 50 Palestinians killed and many more injured. In fact, more than 1100 Gazans were injured by Israeli forces on the May 4 protests alone, The Electronic Intifada said that day. No Israelis have been reported injured in what the media routinely calls “clashes”.
The Great March of Return is a six-week campaign in Gaza to demand the right of Palestinians to return to land they were evicted from by Israeli ethnic cleansing. The protest led into the 70th anniversary of al-Nakba (“the Catastrophe”), the Palestinian name for the mass expulsions that accompanied the foundation of Israel in 1948.
On May 4, labelled “Friday of the Palestinian Worker” by protest organisers, hundreds of protesters required medical treatment for the effects of tear gas. Ambulances and first aid stations at the five main encampments along the border were also targeted with tear gas, meaning that both medics and anyone who was already seeking relief from tear gas received a double dose.
Among the 50 fatalities so far are journalists, farmers, fishers, medics, a championship cyclist and children. This marks an escalation of Israeli aggression against the besieged territory. The Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem noted that Israeli attacks killed 19 Gazans throughout the whole of last year.
The ongoing horror of the illegal use of live ammunition against civilians, as well as the deliberate targeting of readily identifiable individuals such as journalists and medics, is matched only by the silence of so much of the mainstream media.
Read the article by Lisa Gleeson in Green Left Weekly.