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After 40 years of illegal military occupation of Palestine, enough!

kriptick | 09.06.2007 22:23 | Anti-militarism | History | Palestine | London

Although this was just another A to B march in support of the very long suffering Palestinian people, it had particular poignancy this year as it marked the 40'th anniversary of the disastrous 6 day war of 1967 that saw a massive illegal land grab by the Israeli army. Good turnout - organisers estimated numbers at 20,000. There was a small counter demonstration by a group of zionists on the opposite size of the Aldwych.

Front of the march
Front of the march

Plenty of ranters
Plenty of ranters


Jews against zionism receive much respect
Jews against zionism receive much respect

Must be great knowledge behind such a face
Must be great knowledge behind such a face

Other religious dudes support Palestine too
Other religious dudes support Palestine too

Counter zionist demo against double standards
Counter zionist demo against double standards

Traf square was nearly packed for the speeches
Traf square was nearly packed for the speeches


...then all these naked cyclists breezed through the square
...then all these naked cyclists breezed through the square


Lucky to make it to this one as I only heard about this protest half an hour before it officially started. The small counter demo by zionists caused much heckling from the main march - some of the loudest shouts of "Terrorist state!" against them came from the much respected groups of orthodox jews who freely give up their sabbath to attend regular protests against the ongoing illegal military occupation of Palestine.


The six day war in the middle east
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_day_war
was when the Israeli army very suddenly and very aggressively attacked nearly all the neighbouring countries, stealing the Golan Heights, Sinai Desert, West Bank and the Gaza strip for itself. They destroyed the entire Egyptian airforce while it was still on the ground and caused the immediate creation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees - ethnically cleansed from land they had lived on for many centuries. It very much shaped how the middle east is to this day and greatly increased the humiliation of the Palestinian people who were already suffering from when we the British, in 1948 had handed over Palestinian land to the Israelis that we had absolutely no right to ourselves.

Being really very young 40 years ago, I wasn't exposed to much news going on around the world then. However I do remember how our old headmaster at school would make announcements to the whole school about particularly momentous events - the Aberfan disaster, death of Churchill, devaluation of the pound. About the six day war though, I remember him being absolutely jubilant throughout that extraordinary week. Much of the time in our lessons with him then was taken up with him enthusiastically describing the latest spectacular military victories for the Israelis to a barely comprehending classroom of small boys.

I have to assume therefore that then just as now, the Arabs received generally bad world press coverage and the Israelis received much more supportive coverage. It is because of this grossly unbalanced reporting and also its huge support from the USA, that Israel has managed with impunity to ignore dozens of UN resolutions ordering it to return stolen land to the Palestinians, stop building the apartheid separation wall etc.

kriptick
- Homepage: http://www.palestinecampaign.org/

Additions

More Photos

10.06.2007 10:18



The march from behind
The march from behind


Several fundamentalist christians turned up to Trafalgar to supprot Israel.
Several fundamentalist christians turned up to Trafalgar to supprot Israel.

A pretty good march, with highlights including the choir. Police presence was light, but the officers had words with several peaceful march members regarding masks, alcohol, and Hamas / Hizbollah literature.

Dave C
mail e-mail: Gitboy@Action4Peace.org


video links

11.06.2007 22:20

Enough! demonstration London June 9 2007
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqWBz5T5hyg

London Manifestation "Free Palestine" 9 june 2007
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-S90AXdxlg

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MP3 of all speeches!

17.06.2007 01:40

For an extensive report on the rally, including full mp3 audio and summary transcripts of all the speeches and over 70 photos from the rally:

 http://www.inminds.co.uk/enough.occupation.9.june.2007.php

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