May 9, 2021

On April 22, mobs of Israeli settlers gathered in Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine, chanting “Death to Arabs!” and brutalized Palestinians in the Bab Al-Aboud and Bab Al-Sahira neighborhoods. Medical teams reported more than 163 Palestinians were injured and 23 hospitalized due to the violence the settlers carried out. Palestinian homes in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem were attacked, looted, and vandalized by the settlers.

The violence perpetrated by the colonists was followed by mass evictions in a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem in an attempt by the Zionist regime to create a Jewish majority in Jerusalem. According to international and humanitarian law, forced population transfers are illegal, and according to Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, an occupying power must not transfer its civilians to occupied territory.

In response to the heightened violence of the settlers and their on-going ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, Palestinians came out en masse on International Quds (Jerusalem) Day on May 7. The commemoration of this day, which takes place on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was initiated in 1979 by the late leader of the Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to show support for Palestinian resistance and opposition to Zionism and Israel. Demonstrations were held internationally, in Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, the United States, Kashmir, South Africa and Yemen, among other countries.

Apartheid in South Africa met its end due to the efforts of the South African Resistance, working domestically and reaching out abroad to various peoples and organizations who did their part to show solidarity and work within their own countries towards the end of apartheid. The Antiwar Committee of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality is issuing this statement in solidarity with Palestinians and in support of their struggle for the liberation of their ancestral lands and rights to self-determination, defense and resistance. We support the request of Palestinians to Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel and all companies and organizations that enable Israel to continue its military occupation. We also support their requests to end the blockade of Gaza, commonly referred to as the world’s largest open-air prison.

We encourage our followers to learn more about the occupation and its connections to the United States, as well as corporations around the world, by visiting https://whoprofits.org. We also recommend reading “The Struggle for Palestine,” edited by Lance Selfa; “Corporate Complicity in Israel’s Occupation,” by Asa Winstanley and Frank Barat; and “Apartheid Israel,” by Jon Soske and Sean Jacobs.

VIRGINIA DEFENDERS FOR FREEDOM, JUSTICE & EQUALITY
PO Box 23202, Richmond, VA 23223 – USA
Email: DefendersFJE@hotmail.com * Phone / Text: 804-644-5834
Web: http://DefendersFJE.blogspot.com * http://virginiadefender.org