Palestine will be free!

by New Worker correspondent

Over a 100,000 people marched through the heart of London on Saturday to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling for an end to Israel’s occupation and for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel. The protest was called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and its allies to demand the enforcement of the ceasefire agreement and to condemn the ongoing blockade on Gaza. The protest also called for an end to UK arms exports to Israel and highlighted the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where thousands have been affected by military operations. 
In 1977 the UN designated 29th November  as an international occasion to express support for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the right to self-determination, national independence, sovereignty, and the return of refugees to the homes from which they were displaced in 1948.
Ben Jamal, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s director, said that the day was established by the UN to highlight that Palestinians “did not have their right of self-determination realised” and were living under “a system of brutal occupation”. He said the day had come to symbolise “the complete failure of the international community” to act. In 1977 there were “12,000 illegal settlers in East Jerusalem (and) the West Bank,” the figure is now “close to 750,000”.
Jamal said that granting “impunity” to Israel for “occupation and apartheid” had led “inevitably to the genocide we have all been witnessing”. He also criticised the recently passed UN Security Council resolution on Gaza, saying it “doesn’t support the implementation of international law … gives governance of Gaza to the United States and gives the Palestinian people no say in how they are to be governed”. And the Palestinian Mission to the UK in London posted a message of thanks on social media, saying “we would like to thank all the freedom-loving people in Britain for standing with us … Palestine will be free with your unwavering support and dedication”.