On July 12, 2020 a pro Palestinian protest “Day of Rage: Reject the Zionist Annexation of Palestinian” was held in front of Vancouver Art Gallery. The organizers of the protest are Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UBC, Independent Jewish Voices UBC and Arab Students Association at UBC. Khaled Barakat, a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Front for the Liberalization of Palestine (PFLP), participated in the protest.
Here is the statement issued by organizers:
Day of Rage Against Annexation – Vancouver Art Gallery, July 12th
The Deal of the Century recently proposed by the Trump administration comprised of expanding Israeli sovereignty and annexing over 1/3 of the West Bank, in which thousands of Palestinian families reside. Annexation is illegal in nature and is a means for the Israeli state to achieve its political agenda of expanding its colonial power. Join us for a standing protest against the illegitimate annexation of parts of the West Bank and Jordan Valley that will cause further instability and hardships for Palestinians, as well as undermine chances of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The protest will take place at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday, July 12th between 3-5PM.
As per health guidelines in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we ask that you practice social distancing and stay two meters apart, wear face masks, and avoid physical contact with others. Please do not attend if you are sick or immune-compromised.
This protest is organized by UBC ASA (Arab Student Association) and SPHR (Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights) in collaboration with Vancouver Allies and IJV (Independent Jewish Voices).
Feel free to contact us if you have any inquiries!
On July 12, 2020 Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network posted on Facebook:
Today in Vancouver! Samidoun organizers joined the protest outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, organized by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UBC, Independent Jewish Voices UBC, Arab Students Association at UBC and Vancouver Allies – along with organizers from Sulong UBC, Canada Palestine Association, BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories and more.
Speakers highlighted the settler colonial nature of the Israeli state and the Zionist project, emphasizing the connections with settler colonialism in Canada and the genocide of Indigenous nations and the Canadian government’s decades of complicity with Zionist colonialism in Palestine. Protesters emphasized that they were part of a global movement against racism and oppression. They demanded an end to Canadian government support for Israeli occupation, apartheid, settler colonialism and genocide.
Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, spoke at the protest, focusing on the situation of Palestinian political prisoners, including the widespread use of torture by Israeli interrogators, the arrest and imprisonment of Palestinian children and the targeting of Palestinian students. She emphasized the global, anti-imperialist nature of the Palestinian struggle and the importance of standing and struggling together with all movements confronting racism, imperialism and oppression. She closed with the chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
The event concluded with several cultural performances, highlighting ongoing Palestinian cultural resistance. Malak Musik sang Palestinian national songs, while poets Diana and Luay highlighted Palestinian experience, identity and ongoing struggle through their powerful concluding words.
The official website of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reported:
On Sunday, 12 July, student organizations in Vancouver, including Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Independent Jewish Voices UBC and the Arab Students Association, along with Vancouver Allies, organized a demonstration outside the Vanocuver Art Gallery as part of the global “Day of Rage” protests against Israeli annexation of the occupied Palestinian West Bank. A number of organizations participated in the protest, including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Sulong UBC (a Filipino national democratic student organization), the Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver.
Speakers highlighted the settler colonial nature of the Israeli state and the Zionist project, emphasizing the connections with settler colonialism in Canada and the genocide of Indigenous nations and the Canadian government’s decades of complicity with Zionist colonialism in Palestine. Protesters emphasized that they were part of a global movement against racism and oppression. They demanded an end to Canadian government support for Israeli occupation, apartheid, settler colonialism and genocide.
They joined in spirited chants for justice and liberation in Palestine, raising Palestinian flags and signs denouncing annexation.
Speaking on behalf of Sulong UBC, Lara Maestro expressed solidarity with Palestinian student prisoners in Israeli jails, highlighting the cases of Mays Abu Ghosh, Tareq Mattar and Layan Kayed. She also noted the ongoing solidarity between liberation movements in Palestine and the Philippines, highlighting the similarities between the Netanyahu regime in Israel and the Duterte regime in the Philippines.
Speakers representing SPHR UBC discussed Palestinian identity, organizing and resistance inside and outside Palestine, even as Palestinians have faced over 70 years of ongoing Nakba – and ongoing resistance. The speaker representing Independent Jewish Voices emphasized that Israel is a colonial project, emphasizing support for Palestinian and indigenous resistance.
Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, spoke at the protest, focusing on the situation of Palestinian political prisoners, including the widespread use of torture by Israeli interrogators, the arrest and imprisonment of Palestinian children and the targeting of Palestinian students.
She emphasized the global, anti-imperialist nature of the Palestinian struggle and the importance of standing and struggling together with all movements confronting racism, imperialism and oppression. She closed with the chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
On behalf of Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver, Alan Roberts emphasized the ongoing complicity of the Canadian government in Israeli crimes, expressed solidarity with the Black liberation movement and Indigenous struggles and called for the boycott of Israel and complicit corporations.
The event concluded with several cultural performances, highlighting ongoing Palestinian cultural resistance. Malak Musik sang Palestinian national songs, while poets Diana and Luay highlighted Palestinian experience, identity and ongoing struggle through their powerful concluding words.
The protest followed an earlier street picket organized on 26 June by the Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver. Protesters lined up at the crowded rush-hour intersection of Broadway and Clark in Vancouver with large signs, banners and Palestinian flags, chanting loudly and denouncing Israeli annexation while demanding justice and liberation for Palestine.
Sulong UBC reported:
Sulong UBC was honoured to stand among the organizers and speakers at Sunday’s Day of Rage: Reject the Zionist Annexation of Palestinian Land action, held by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UBC, the Arab Students Association at UBC., in collaboration with Independent Jewish Voices UBC and Vancouver allies. Read the full text of our statement below!
Warm and militant greetings from Sulong UBC on this Day of Rage against the illegal annexation of Palestinian land! I am here today to say that progressive Filipino youth and students stand with you against continued Zionist aggression, and in staunch support of righteous Palestinian resistance!
This latest act of systematic dispossession and occupation by the Israeli state – armed and supported by the imperialist US and other Western powers – is an intensification of the ongoing Nakba by further fragmenting Palestinian territory, causing greater displacement and brutal oppression of the Palestinian people. The decades of Zionist oppression and the Netanyahu government’s expansion of its colonial activities severely infringe on Palestinians’ political, civil, and human rights and has forced many from their homeland, including many overseas.
Among the recent tactics and numerous human rights abuses employed by Israel’s occupying forces are detentions without trial, torture, murders of unarmed protesters, blocking access to medical equipment and other resources, bombing hospitals and other infrastructure, demolition of countless homes, and denying detainees in prison proper healthcare during the pandemic.
As a youth and student group we register our particular opposition to the targeting, harassment, and imprisonment of Palestinian youth and students, who bring their spirit and vigor to the frontlines of this resistance. Our study of the revolutionary history of the Philippines has similarly shown that youth are the vanguard of national reawakening, and we draw inspiration and strength from the Palestinian student movement and its bravery in the face of extreme repression. As Palestinian writer and journalist Khaled Barakat says, “a new Palestinian generation was born after the signing of the Oslo agreements, and this generation is raising its voice.” There are approximately 250 Palestinian students being held in Israeli jails, like Mays Abu Ghosh [student affiliated with PFLP], Tareq Mattar [PFLP operative], Yahya al-Qarout, and Layan Kayed. As the world continues to face a global pandemic, we join our voices in the demand for the immediate release of imprisoned Palestinian youth and students, and all Palestinian prisoners!
As Filipinos we also intimately understand that both the Netanyahu and Duterte regimes are backed by the imperialist US state, and our movements for liberation share an anti-imperialist character. As the fight for national democracy in the Philippines continues against repression, militarization, and state fascism, especially with the signing of the draconian Anti-Terror Law, we must also fight alongside the Palestinian people against the inhumane, settler-colonial Israeli state and for the rights of Palestinians to land, national liberation, and self-determination. We say NO to the US-Israel annexation plan, land theft, and ethnic cleansing! NO to Annexation, NO to Zionism! YES to Palestinian Resistance, YES to Liberation! YES to the release of all political prisoners! Long live international solidarity!
Stop the US war machine, from Palestine to the Philippines!
#DefendPalestine #NoToAnnexation #DayofRage
Protesters held Palestinian flags and signs that read:
- I love Palestine
- No to annexation
- Stop the annexation
- Palestine will be free! SJP Students for Justice in Palestine
- Boycott Israeli apartheid
- Freedom for All Palestinian prisoners! Samidoun
- Palestine not 4 sale
- Free Palestine
- No to the THEFT of the century
- Right of return
- Support Palestinian resistance. Samidoun
- Canada is guilty in Palestinian genocide Nakba
- Support BDS
- Free all Palestinian political prisoners. Samidoun
- Free Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea. Samidoun
- Samidoun – Palestinian prisoner solidarity network
- [Freedom for] Ahmad Sa’adat [and] George Abdallah
Palestinian Prisoners – Background
The grave majority of the Palestinian prisoners were convicted of involvement in serious security offenses and terrorist activities against Israel. This group include among others suicide bombers captured alive, dispatchers of suicide bombers, mass murderers, leaders of terrorist organizations, terrorists who killed civilians and/soldiers and those who attempted or planned to kill civilians and or soldiers.
Ahmad Sa’adat is the Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist group in Canada. Sa’adat was convicted of the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister, Rehavam Ze’evi and other terrorist attacks carried put by PFLP. He was sentenced to 30 years in jail.
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO), was arrested in France in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for the 1982 murder of Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Ray, who was an assistant US military attaché and murder of Israeli diplomat Yaakov Bar-Simantov outside his home in Paris on 3 April 1982, as well as involvement in the attempted assassination of former American consul in Strasbourg Robert O. Homme.
In 2003 Canada designated PFLP as a terrorist organization. According to Public Safety Canada:
Formed in 1967, the goals of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) are the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a communist government in Palestine. During the 1970s, the group took part in some of the boldest terrorist attacks of the period, such as hijacking three civilian airliners in one day and storming the Vienna headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Since 2000, the PFLP has turned increasingly to the use of suicide bombers, guerilla tactics, car bombings, and mortar strikes. The PFLP was also responsible for the first assassination of a cabinet minister in Israel’s history, killing Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. In 2014, the PFLP claimed responsibility for a November gun and knife attack at an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in West Jerusalem that killed 6 people. More recently, on June 16, 2017, two coordinated attacks targeting Israeli police officers were carried out near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s walled old city.