The Great March of Return is a series of weekly militant marches to the Gaza Strip barrier that has been going on for the past six weeks. This action aims to see Palestinians take back the land that was violently seized by Zionists decades ago. Already in the past six weeks, 53 people have been killed and 8500 injured. The latest massacre coincides with a larger march commemorating Al Nakba and the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Al-Nakba refers to the period in 1948 when many hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced off their land by Israel, just before the official creation of the apartheid state of Israel.

The right of return is the principle that Palestinians and their descendants have an inalienable right to return to the homeland they were forced to flee. The right of return is recognized by international law as the right of all refugees. It is a central element of the Palestinian resistance to Zionist occupation and the struggle for liberation.

FRSO also condemns the vile decision by Donald Trump to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This calculated move against Palestinian self-determination has been met with harsh criticism around the world. It is no coincidence that the official opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on the eve of Al-Nakba has seen increased violence by the Zionists less than 40 miles from the opening ceremony.

FRSO calls for all those who love peace and justice to protest the Zionist aggression and U.S. support for the apartheid state of Israel. The people of the world stand in full solidarity with Palestine and against Israeli terror and bloodshed. We see the liberation of Palestine.

From the river to the sea – Palestine will be free! Long live Palestine!

#UnitedStates #Palestine #Jerusalem #AlNakba #Nakba70 #MiddleEast

Minneapolis, MN – 150 people rallied at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, Dec. 18, to oppose Trump’s announcement naming Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The protest was organized by Palestinian youth, including Students for Justice in Palestine-UMN. The call for Palestinian liberation was clearly the central theme of the event with loud chants of “Free, free Palestine” being heard throughout of the protest.

#MinneapolisMN #Palestine #Jerusalem #StudentsForJusticeInPalestine #MiddleEast

Dallas, TX – The Dallas Palestine Coalition organized a protest, on Dec. 10, against Trump's announcement that he would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. About 1000 people attended the rally at Dealey Plaza near downtown Dallas.

Led by the DPC's coordinator Masoud Khayyat, protesters chanted, “Jerusalem, don't you cry, Palestine will never die,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Signs at the protest stated that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine and had other pro-Palestine messages, while others called for Trump's impeachment.

Many Palestinian flags were in evidence, but someone also passed out U.S. flags to the crowd.

A lone member of the Three Percent militia group appeared as a counter-protester, briefly heckling a speaker. During an argument with protesters, he called himself a “proud fascist.” After being yelled at for a while, he moved on.

The Dallas Palestine Coalition is planning another rally next week in Fort Worth.

#DallasTX #Palestine #Jerusalem #DallasPalestineCoalition #MiddleEast

Tampa, FL – Over 400 people joined a protest in Temple Terrace, Tampa, Dec. 8 to denounce Trump’s announcement that the U.S. “recognizes” Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The protesters condemned plans to move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In speeches and chants, protesters made it clear that they recognize Jerusalem as the historic capitol of Palestine, and that Trump’s announcement is an attack on the Palestinian people. One sign said: “Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine.”

Trump’s recent announcement led the major Palestinian political parties to call for “Three Days of Rage” and for Arabs and Muslims to protest this genocide worldwide. This protest joined countless demonstrations across the globe, as well as within Palestine itself, from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank to Jerusalem proper. The Israeli Defense Forces have retaliated by using tear gas on protesters, shooting into the crowds, raiding neighborhoods, deliberately targeting medical facilities and ambulances carrying injured Palestinian protesters, and bombing Gaza.

Calvin Kirby, one of the protesters stated, “Anyone who thinks the U.S. is a broker of peace in the region can see by now that that is not their priority. What Trump wants to do is annihilate Palestinian sovereignty completely, starting with its capitol. This is why we need to continue protesting and attending events like this, to show Trump and Israel that nobody will let them get away with this.”

#TampaFL #Palestine #Jerusalem #MiddleEast

New York, NY – Approximately 4000 Palestinians and allies rallied and marched in the center of New York city in protest of President Trump moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

Currently, the U.S. Embassy is in Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel (Occupied Palestine). Moving the embassy to Jerusalem would end up emboldening Israel’s criminal occupation. Even imperialist countries, such as France, have denounced the President Trump’s move.

The protesters in New York joined the with Palestinians, who called for three days of rage in response to Trump’s action. The event started in Times Square, where the sheer number of people overflowed the police barricades and spilled out into the streets. A 25-foot Palestinian flag covered the crowd, undulating as the people moved.

A few pro-Zionist forces were drowned out by thousands of voices chanting, “Free, free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

The crowd chanted and swelled in size for over two hours. At the end of the rally there was a short list of speakers, including Lamis Deek from Al-Awda NY. She spoke about the importance of Palestinian struggle and how Israeli occupation is a hindrance to peace. She said, “Wherever there is Israel there is violence. And where there is Palestine, there is freedom!” to which the whole crowd erupted in cheers.

The march began with people marching filed in a line, talking up several city blocks, chanting the whole way, waving hundreds of Palestinian flags.

The march ended in front of the CNN building by Columbus Circle, right near Trump Towers, a symbolic moment highlighting the connection between the U.S.'s brutal history of colonialism and Israel's occupation of Palestine. Despite a large police presence, the people kept chanting and waving Palestinian flags, declaring that Palestine one day will be free.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #Jerusalem #AlAwda #MiddleEast

This unilateral U.S. move is further proof that Trump and the U.S. are not and never have been ‘honest brokers for peace’ in the Middle East.

#SaintPaulMN #Palestine #Jerusalem #DonaldTrump #MiddleEast

Chicago, IL – “This is unacceptable – Jerusalem is our capital!” was the chant led by Muhammad Sankari of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), as over 500 people protested in the Federal Plaza in Chicago’s Loop, Dec. 7. An hour later, by the time the crowd arrived at the Israeli Consulate, the march had swelled to 2000 people – in a sea of Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian scarves.

The protest was called in response to Trump’s support for Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem, and the declaration that the U.S. will now recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the apartheid state. The Coalition for Justice in Palestine, made up of all the main organizations in the Palestinian community, called the protest.

Other organizations involved included Jewish Voices for Peace and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Frank Chapman of the Alliance expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian people. Speaking in the plaza, he explained, “The U.S. developed apartheid here first, to oppress Black people, and we stand in solidarity with the Palestinians in your struggle to overthrow Israeli apartheid.” After saying, “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine,” he closed with, “You have to take back your land.” The mainly Palestinian gathering roared agreement.

In a statement earlier, USPCN said that politicians in both parties in the U.S. government are “only interested in making sure Israel is strong enough to always defend U.S. imperialist interests in the region.”

In response, Palestinians have declared they will continue their fight for their “rights of return, self-determination, liberation and an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Protests will continue in Palestine and elsewhere for three ‘Days of Rage’ called by many forces in the Palestinian liberation movement.

#ChicagoIL #Palestine #Jerusalem #USPCN #MiddleEast

On April 6, students at San Francisco State University (SFSU) protested the Israeli mayor of occupied Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, who came to speak on campus. For nearly five months, the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) was under investigation by the SFSU administration after the protest. SFSU released the investigator’s report on Sept. 1.

Fight Back! interviewed Laila Zeytouna from the General Union of Palestinian Students about Palestine solidarity in the student movement, political repression by university administrations, and the SFSU investigation against GUPS.

Fight Back!: Why did students protest the campus speaking event of Israeli mayor Nir Barkat? Why should the student movement engage in this type of direct action to end U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, instead of engaging in dialogue with pro-Israel groups or working with university administrations?

Laila Zeytouna: We protested Nir Barkat because of his role as an Israeli politician working within a system that aims to ethnically cleanse and oppress Palestinians. Nir Barkat promotes racist, pro-war policies and he is the mayor of occupied Jerusalem, where Palestinians who live in the West Bank cannot enter without applying for permits from the Israeli military. This blocks their right to pray in sacred holy sites, to obtain necessities like food and medicine, see their families, and have a right to a historical city that has so much value to Palestinians. Mayor Barkat also urges Israelis to arm themselves against Palestinians. Why would the administration welcome such a man to speak on campus? With that being said, we should not dialogue with figures like him, because Barkat is a direct contributor to the occupation – he is a part of the terrorization of our people and land. At the end of the day, there is nothing we can say to each other to make the situation better, until there is a complete end to the occupation.

Fight Back!: After the action, how did the SFSU administration and pro-Israel organizations react?

Zeytouna: The very next day after the action, President Leslie Wong sent an email to the entire student body condemning the protest and announcing that an investigation will be launched. The pro-Israel organizations were furious and published articles right away. A lot of them were lies, saying we were threatening Jewish students, calling for their death, and singled out GUPS when there were numerous student organizations participating. We were not there to protest the Jewish students; we were protesting a horrible Israeli politician.

Canary Mission, a McCarthyist blacklist site, singled out two Palestinian women as the leaders of the protest and many of the people who attended. SFSU administration reached out to the people who got listed on Canary Mission and offered help through the University Police Department and counseling services. But the most important thing the administration could have done to protect the students targeted with harassment would have been to publicly denounce the false accusations. They did not do this, instead, Wong’s statement condemning our protest before any of the facts were investigated, made us more vulnerable to backlash.

Fight Back!: Do you think this follows a pattern of university repression against student protests for Palestinian rights across the country?

Zeytouna: Of course it does. As soon as we criticize Israel for their disgusting treatment towards Palestinians, our ‘freedom of speech’ is suddenly taken away. It is no secret that universities receive enormous funding from Zionist donors and institutions. SFSU tries to pride itself as being a haven of social justice and student activism, but their actions speak louder when the administration launches an investigation on students for protesting a politician. We have murals on our campus projecting Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez and Edward Said. The university’s attempt to silence us goes against everything these leaders fought for.

Fight Back!: What were the findings of the investigation conducted against your organization, and is it a student victory?

Zeytouna: The investigation confirmed that our protest was aimed at the mayor and his policies and not Jewish students. The report was not a perfect one. For example, it did not include the longtime repression against Palestinian students who organize on campus nor the harassment we endured as a result. It also included many irrelevant comments from people who disagreed with the form of our protest, telling us that dialogue would be more productive, even though this has no bearing whatsoever on whether policy violations occurred. But overall, the report is a victory because the facts demonstrate clearly that we did not target Jewish students, but that our protest was political. Zionists constantly try to victimize themselves and say that us protesting Israel is anti-Semitic and hateful. This is a complete distortion of our views and a distraction from the policy issues we are raising. We want human rights and justice for the Palestinian people – how is that anti-Semitic? At the end of the day, we find it a student victory for all Palestinian and pro-Palestine students at universities across the country who also face endless Zionist and university backlash. Truth shows us that justice stands with those who struggle.

#SanFranciscoCA #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #Jerusalem #PoliticalRepression #SFSU #SanFranciscoStateUniversity #NirBarkat

“The operation today in Jerusalem is a natural response to the ongoing racist policies and crimes of the occupation, and it is the occupation that is responsible for the escalation in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine. We are witnessing lynchings, the targeting of Palestinians, demolishing homes, confiscating land, building colonies, taking unprecedented measures against Muslims’ and Christians’ holy sites in Jerusalem on a daily basis,” said Khalil Maqdesi, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

“Every day, thousands of supporters of the PFLP – and our entire Palestinian people – resist occupation in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine. There will be more of these kinds of actions so long as the occupier’s assault continues,” Maqdesi said. “The PFLP will continue to target every institution of the occupation. No place in Jerusalem should be safe so long as the Palestinian people are not safe. ‘Security’ cannot be built on the backs of the Palestinian people. The only result of the occupation attacks on Jerusalem will be continued and escalating resistance among the Palestinian masses.”

“Resistance is our only path; there is no other way in which Palestinians can liberate their land and achieve their rights. Resistance includes many methods of struggle, including, centrally, armed resistance and armed struggle. Revolutionary violence is necessary in order to confront and overthrow the colonization of our land and the confiscation of our rights,” said Maqdesi.

“Oppressed people are determined to seek their freedom. It is the responsibility of the so-called ‘international community’ to hold Israel accountable for its attacks on the Palestinian people. It is the occupier who should be labeled ‘inhuman’. Instead, their settlement building, their killings, their mass attacks on Palestinian rights are met with approval and silence by the United States and the European Union, who have shown themselves to be consistently on the side of Israel, on the side of colonialism and imperialist hegemony,” said Maqdesi.

“What is being called ‘Har Nof’ was in fact built on the ruins of the village of Deir Yassin, ethnically cleansed in 1948 and hundreds of Palestinians slaughtered at the hands of the Haganah and Zionist terror organizations, as they expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land – refugees who have been struggling to return to their land, and to liberate their land, for over 66 years,” Maqdesi said.

“The PFLP is not a religious organization and our resistance is not based on religious convictions. We are struggling to liberate Palestine from a settler colonial project imposed on our people. Occupiers and racists do not belong to the land of Palestine; there are, and must be, consequences and repercussions for the theft of our land and our rights,” said Maqdesi.

“The spontaneous response and demonstrations by the Palestinian people from Beddawi refugee camp to Dheisheh refugee camp to Gaza, and even on social media, the masses outside and inside Palestine, who chanted for Ghassan and Oday Abu Jamal, embraced the Palestinian armed resistance and the path of liberation,” said Maqdesi.

“The response of the occupation that we are expecting is a criminal one – this is the nature of the occupation. Arresting the entire Abu Jamal family, threatening them with orders to demolish their homes, terrorizing the entire neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir, which they blocked in with concrete blocks; beating the brothers of the martyrs – these are the people that we must embrace, protect, and care for, in the face of the occupier’s attacks,” said Maqdesi.

“Our message to the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in exile is that you have maintained your resilience and resistance to the occupier for 66 years. You are strong and have the ability to continue on the path of struggle. No power can liquidate your cause. The PFLP reaffirms its commitment to you, and your cause, and your rights. We call upon all Palestinian political forces to unify under the banner of the Palestinian heroic people, to protect their sacrifices, and unite to march forward toward a new stage and a new intifada,” said Maqdesi.

“The PFLP is committed to redirecting and recentering the compass of the region and its people on the central issue – towards Palestine, towards Jerusalem, confronting Zionism and imperialism; away from sectarian wars and chaos in the region. Palestine is still the issue, and Jerusalem is at the heart of this struggle,” Maqdesi said. “Today, the PFLP has a message to the Arab people, that your battle is with imperialism and Zionism and not with each other, and that the fragmentation of the Arab people can only benefit the occupier who is colonizing your beloved Palestine. The masses must awaken and shake the collective consciousness of the Arab nation to confront the real enemy.”

“The PFLP also wants to send its message to a billion and a half Muslim brothers and sisters that our fight is not with Jews and is not based on religion; it is about justice, liberation and return to the homeland, and this is your struggle,” said Maqdesi.

“Our message today to the Jewish people around the world is that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was never a conflict between Muslims and Jews. Palestine has embraced the Jewish community for hundreds of years. What stands between us is this colonial project. We know that thousands of Jews around the world are true and genuine voices for the struggle, leading boycott movements and joining the Palestinian struggle for liberation on a daily basis. We salute each and every one of them. And for those Jews who are misled by the Zionist discourse, Israel is nothing but a deathtrap for both Jews and Arabs. Racism can never resolve conflicts, and apartheid is not a solution. You must stand by the side of the oppressed, and not the oppressor; raise your voice against the Zionist criminals who are oppressing our people in your name,” Maqdesi said.

“As for the threats of Netanyahu and Yaalon to our people,” Maqdesi said that they are “worthless and carry no weight and reflect a racist settler mindset that thinks that through coercion and oppression we will become silent and defeated. The battle with the occupation will not be limited to Jerusalem. It is going to expand to every inch of Palestine, and through the borders of Palestine. Today, also, the PFLP wants to send a message to the solidarity movement with Palestine, to intensify their efforts and their struggle to support the resistance on the path of establishing a democratic Palestine where all people live in equality and freedom.”

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #MiddleEast #Israel #Jerusalem

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine salutes the masses of the Palestinian people in the West Bank, in Jerusalem, and occupied Palestine ’48 as they take qualitative actions and embody steadfastness and popular intifada and confront the occupier. This is the true picture of our people, their will and their commitment, which cannot and will not be defeated by Zionist crimes, the conditions of the moment, Arab complicity and international collusion against the Palestinian people and cause.

The Front saluted the escalating heroic operations against Israeli soldiers and settlers in occupied Palestine, especially in the West Bank and Jerusalem, noting that this is an expected response to the crimes of the occupation and that resistance is the most effective method to defend our people against the systematic Zionist war on their existence.

The Front noted the role of liberated prisoners in these heroic operations as an indication of the fact the the prisons of the occupation have been and continue to be schools to produce revolutionary heroism and sacrifice, which is a major component of our Palestinian people and their struggle against the occupation.

The PFLP noted the Israeli Ministerial Committee’s approval of proposed legislation applying Israeli law to the settlers in the West Bank as a serious development and an attempt to impose “facts on the ground” and annex the West Bank settlements to the occupation state.

The Front also denounced the recent occupation actions, especially the attempt to destroy Palestinian homes in Jerusalem and declare them “illegal” and the campaign of incitement against our people in occupied Palestine ’48, the demolition of the homes of the families of those who carry out operations against the occupiers, and the escalation of settlement construction, as revealing the true racist face of state terror that is inveighed against our people in occupied Palestine. They are confronting malicious attempts to break their will and force them to surrender and submission.

The Front urged the masses of our people in every part of Palestine to continue and escalate the popular struggle to an overwhelming popular intifada against the Israeli occupation, and for our people in the Diaspora to escalate their support for the struggle inside.

The Front also demanded that the Palestinian Authority and its security forces adopt a national stance to serve the people, by ending security coordination and any ties with the criminal occupier, and instead change the function of the security agencies to provide security to our people to protect them from Zionist attacks, and confront Israeli policy and practices based on a comprehensive national strategy that ends negotiations with the occupation state and prioritizes national unity.

The PFLP renewed its call for the formation of popular protection committees to confront the attacks by settlers against our people. The Front also called for an urgent meeting of the provisional leadership of the Palestinian national movement and the PLO, including all factions, to discuss the escalating Zionist aggression, and develop a unified national plan to support the steadfastness of our people and their intifada in the face of the occupation, and for the Palestinian official leadership to immediately join the International Criminal Court to prosecute the occupation for its escalating crimes against our people.

The Front called upon the Arab people and international allies and friends around the world to escalate comprehensive boycott against the occupation and expose the practices and violations of Zionism.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #MiddleEast #Intifada #Jerusalem

Deportation of Palestinian legislators’ part of attacks on Jerusalem

The Zionist government's decision to deport Palestinian legislators from Jerusalem is part of the occupation's policy of ethnic cleansing and ongoing attempts to empty the city of its indigenous people, said Comrade Emad Abu Rahma, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In an interview with the “Voice of the People” radio station on June 21, 2010, Comrade Abu Rahma said that the fascist regime would continue these measures aimed at Judaizing and Israelizing the city, in order to obliterate its Arab and Palestinian character. He demanded that the Palestinian Authority immediately end any and all forms of indirect or direct negotiations with the occupier, as it continues to build settlements, ethnically cleanse Jerusalem, seize Palestinian land and wage a deadly siege on Gaza.

He emphasized the need to support the steadfastness of our people in occupied Jerusalem in all forms and methods, popular and official, on Palestinian, Arab and international levels, emphasizing that the occupation and annexation of Jerusalem is completely illegal under international laws and resolutions.

Comrade Abu Rahma's comments followed upon a statement issued by the PFLP that also noted that these actions make clear that the U.S. Obama administration has no intention of stopping the Zionist regime form its ongoing settlement expansion, noting that the continuation of indirect or direct negotiations only provides a cover for the occupation government and encourages it to continue its settlement expansion and colonization in Jerusalem.

The Front called upon the United Nations to take up its responsibility to stop the Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, and called upon the Arab Parliamentarians Union to raise this issue in Arab and international forums to highlight the Zionist arrogance and abuse of our people.

Furthermore, the PFLP said in a statement that the occupation's ongoing approvals of new settlement housing units around Jerusalem, particularly while continuing the destruction of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, the land confiscation, and the attacks on the Arab Palestinian people of Jerusalem make it clear that the Israeli policy of “Greater Jerusalem” is a policy for ethnic cleansing, meant to undermine the status of Jerusalem as the political and cultural capital of the Palestinian people and as a central Arab, Islamic and Christian holy city. The “Greater Jerusalem” policy is focused on liquidating Palestinian rights to self-determination, sovereignty and return, said the Front.

The PFLP emphasized that every visit of U.S. officials to the region only emphasizes their ongoing deception and utter disregard for Arab rights and international law, and demanded that the Palestinian leadership end this situation by working to restore unity in order to fight the schemes of the occupation and protect Palestinian national rights.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Israel #PFLP #Jerusalem #MiddleEast