Zionist mayor against the Palestinian community of Haifa
extreme Islamist’s […] coming from out of Haifa […] unlawful pro-Palestinian demonstrations…
That’s what Yona Yahav, so called “liberal” mayor of #Haifa, has to say about the Palestinian protests against the genocide in #Gaza.
This lie on a lie on a lie is more then “just” an attempt to de-legitimize the protests, and standing behind the police repression. This is a racist denial of the right of the #Haifa#Palestinians to exist as community. There is a subtext to the claim “coming from out of Haifa”, a term that never comes up when talking about Jewish protesters (or bullies). That claim makes every Arab a subject to the question “is he from Haifa” ?
The answer to that question can be found in the first paragraph, where Yahav tells a story about his childhood, standing with his mother, shedding a tear about the Arab neighbors who “chose” (his words) to leave. We all know that old #Zionist fantasy story and we all know that the [vast majority of] #Palestinian#refugees were denied from return.
The current #Palestinian community of Haifa is built mostly from people who came to Haifa after 48 and made it their home. A home to a diverse and active Palestinian community and a center of cultural and political life, including ,apparently, demonstrations.
Yahav attempts to draw a legitimate protest of Haifa (and other places) #Palestinians – as “foreign” and illegitimate. and by-product, to question the roots of the #Palestinian residents of #Haifa, who “came from other places” sometime in the past and are therefor not entitled to own Haifa as a center and exist in it politically.
In June 2018, the brave youth of #Gaza strip had started a campaign against the siege, under the title “The march of return”. It was not a metaphoric march, they were literally marching to the separation wall, the wall of the largest open-air prison. under a shower of stun grenades, teargas and live armor, they were marching and they were murdered.
Very few responses to this horror show were seen around the world. The occupied territories of 48 of #Palestine were one of the areas that refused to be silenced. The anger on the #massacre and on the collaboration of the #Palestinian Authority was pushing the people to mobilize. In #Haifa, hundreds of people, mostly youth, from Haifa and other places, have responded to the call of #Gaza. Under the slogan “One fate, one blood” they gathered in Paris square, #Haifa, to protest, to show solidarity with our people in #Gaza who were forced to choose between slow death to sniper bullets.
The #police was ready before the first protester arrived. They surrounded the area of the protest from all sides. When the protest started they blocked all entries and exists, leaving no escape to those who thought to avoid troubles and to leave the protest. They attacked, of course, pushing and beating the people. at first, they were pushing us from the square to near a coffee-shop, huddling us together, beating and arresting. All we could do was try standing and chanting “With spirit and blood, we will redeem you, Gaza”. people were crashed into the tables and falling on the ground. The police attacked in waves, huddling more, beating more, arresting more, and the people kept chanting “With spirit and blood, we will redeem you, Gaza”. A video of the event
in the aftermath, 22 were arrested, almost everyone were beaten, many were injured. one protester's knee was broken by a police officer while sitting handcuffed in the police station. Tough night for us, not so much of a price comparing to the horrors we protested against. Today, the Israeli massacre machine is huddling the Gazans together and bombing them, murdering them, from the land, from the air and from the sea. They “evacuated” to the south and attacked there. Now they are preparing to invade the overcrowded southern city of #Rafah, which may escalate the bloodshed by an order. It seems like an evil monstrous version of that protest night. I can hardly imagine the tip of the fear, suffer and loss in Gaza. The least we can do is to chant once again:
