Saturday 9 June: A global day of protest against the oppressive Israeli occupation of Palestinian land 

Date: 08 / 06 / 2007 Time: 17:57

Bethlehem - Ma'an - 

This week marks the fortieth anniversary of the June 1967 'Six-Day War' and the subsequent Israeli military occupation of the West Bank (including east Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. Apart from Sinai, all these territories remain under Israeli control.

Tomorrow, Saturday, demonstrations will take place across the globe protesting what is fast becoming the longest occupation in history.

Ramallah

Protest marches are planned in occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah during the day. The Palestinian network of non-governmental organisations plans to submit on Saturday an open letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention regarding the 40-year occupation.

Tel Aviv

In Tel Aviv, a large protest march is expected on Saturday evening. A coalition of left-wing Israeli groups and activists are calling for an end to the 40-year occupation of Palestinian land, a start of negotiations to achieve regional peace and a comprehensive ceasefire, including the dismantling of Israeli settlements and military checkpoints in the West Bank.

Demonstrators will march from Rabin Square to the Tel Aviv Museum plaza where a rally will take place at 20:00 local time. Amongst the speakers will be Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian bereaved father whose daughter was killed by the Israeli army in Anata, Jerusalem; Nurit Peled Elhanan, an Israeli bereaved mother whose daughter was killed in a suicide bombing; Shawki Khatib, head of the High Follow-Up Committee of the Arab Population in Israel; and Naomi Hazan, former Meretz (Israeli left-wing political party) Knesset Member and present member of the International Women's Commission for Peace. There will also be musical performances.

The participating groups include the Israeli leftist political parties Meretz, Hadash and Balad; Israeli peace movements such as Peace Now, Gush Shalom, Yesh Gvul, Anarchists Against the Wall and The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions; Israeli-Palestinian groups such as the Coalition of Women for Peace, Combatants for Peace and The Alternative Information Center; and numerous other student and activist groups.

Around the world

Around the world large demonstrations condemning the ongoing occupation are planned.

In London, organisers say thousands of supporters are predicted to attend their rally. Speakers at the rally will include Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouthi; the Jerusalem-based Anglican Bishop Riah Abu El Assal; Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, Professor Manuel Hassassian; Nathaniel Silverman, an Israeli refusenik ex-soldier from the group Combatants for Peace; Richard Burden MP; Jeremy Corbyn MP; Emily Thornberry MP; George Galloway MP; Caroline Lucas MEP; Dr Daud Abdullah from the Muslim Council of Britain; Ismael Patel from Friends of Al Aqsa; Dr Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought (IIPT), London; Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Keith Sonnet of the UK's public service union UNISON. The rally organizers also hope to receive a video message from Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. This will be his first address to the British people.

Other demonstrations and rallies are planned in Washington, D.C, Sydney, Brussels, Sao Paolo, Toronto, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Dublin, Rome, Osaka, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Geneva, Berlin, Madrid, Graz (Austria), Wellington (New Zealand and others.

Further conferences

Palestinian civil society groups are planning various other conferences on the subject of occupation later in the month. The network of Palestinian non-governmental organisations (PNGO) announced in a press statement that it plans to hold a workshop entitled “Forty Years of Israeli Occupation from a Civil Society perspective” at Gaza International Hotel in Gaza City on Sunday 10 June 2007. On 11 June, the Association of International Development Agencies is holding a special forum on the status of the Jordan Valley under international humanitarian law.

International aid agencies add their voice

30 members of this association of international development and humanitarian agencies also issued a joint statement on Friday calling on their governments and the United Nations to "renew their efforts to end the occupation and to ensure the respect of international humanitarian law and human rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

In their statement, the agencies said they "remain seriously concerned by the humanitarian impact of 40 years of occupation on the Palestinian population as reflected by our experience in the field and recent UN reports."

They continue: "We agree with the assessment of the World Bank, United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, among others, that the ongoing civil and military occupation of the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, and effective control of Gaza's borders is a violation of international law. This occupation lies at the heart of the ongoing conflict and of the increased poverty in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

In particular, the agencies call on their governments to "Re-engage with the Palestinian Authority and press the Israeli government to release vital tax revenues owed to the Palestinians, so that essential services can continue"; "Urge both sides to implement their obligations under the November 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access and to ensure that freedom of access for humanitarian cases is assured"; and "Secure the protection of civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular children, and the essential infrastructure that supports them in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law."