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PCFS and APC firmly stand with the people of Palestine, strongly support the “Great Return March”

The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) firmly stand with the Palestinian people in their global campaign to return to Palestine.

We join the Palestinian people and people of the world in commemorating the 70th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine. Some 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their native towns and villages prior, during and after Israel’s so-called declaration of independence on May 15, 1948. Today, there are over 12 million Palestinians worldwide (of which 5.4 million are refugees), who regard Israel’s independence day as the Nakba – or the “catastrophe”.

Both Coalitions support the struggle of the Palestinian people as a rightful assertion for food sovereignty. The past seven decades saw hunger and poverty plaguing Palestine due to the Israeli government’s economic restrictions on their access, especially to land and food. It is high time to end the Zionist rule that have deprived the Palestinian people their land and life.

Last March 30, the Israeli army opened fired and killed at least 34 unarmed Palestinians and wounded 1,400 others during a peaceful demonstration along the Gaza-Israel border for the launch of the six-week “Great Return March”. Just hours before, a Palestinian farmer was also killed by artillery fire from Israel. We decry these acts as an escalation of the war crimes of Israel as it continues its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.

To date since then, the Zionist attacks have incurred the following casualties among the Palestinian marchers: 49 martyrs including children and two journalists; 9,545 injured including 900 children, 400 women, 200 medical staff, and 110 journalists, 24 of which were amputations.US imperialism’s and Israel’s attempt to wipe out the Palestinian history of Jerusalem is the height of the Zionist policy of occupation, apartheid, and land grabbing in Palestine. The already tense situation further increased when Trump declared Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. We do not recognize Israel’s claim to the entire city.

We also denounce the move to set up/relocate embassies in Jerusalem, led by US President Donald Trump. This is a blatant disregard for the Palestinian peoples’ rights and international humanitarian laws in relation with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We are with the people of Palestine who resist US imperialism and the ills it brought to their country. We condemn the US counterinsurgency programs and the Israeli government that brand Palestinian activists and freedom fighters as terrorists to legitimize violations of their human rights and of international humanitarian laws.

The Great Return March is a series of protests from March 30 in commemoration of 42nd Land Day, up to May 15 in observance of Nakba. Land Day marks the same day on 1976 when six unarmed Palestinians defending their lands against Israeli takeover were killed. Nakba, meanwhile, commemorates the same day on 1948 when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their lands to Israeli invasion.

We call on all member organizations of the PCFS and APC to support the Great Return March campaign and conduct actions and activities that demonstrate strong solidarity with the Palestinian people. We call on all network organizations of the PCFS and APC to continuously support the Palestinian people in their just struggle against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.

Support Palestinians’ fight for land!

End the Zionist occupation!

Long live International Solidarity!