Remembering the Great March of Return
On 30 March 2018, a series of protests known as the Great March of Return began in Gaza demanding the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral homes in what is now "Israel."
From Working Class History:
On 30 March 2018, a series of protests known as the Great March of Return began in Gaza, Palestine, demanding the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral homes in what is now “Israel,” and calling for an end to the 12 year blockade of Gaza.
Approximately 70% of Gaza residents are refugees, whose parents or grandparents were among the 750,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed from their homes in the Nakba, the creation of Israel in 1948.
The blockade destroyed Gaza’s economy, leaving its 2 million residents with the world’s highest unemployment rate, of over 50%, and with the majority of residents not having enough food or water.
Poet and journalist, Ahmed Abu Artema, proposed a peaceful protest near the border fence which had been constructed by Israeli forces around the Gaza Strip. These developed into a series of weekly demonstrations each Friday.
Despite the largely peaceful nature of the protests, Israeli military forces responded with extreme violence, using army snipers to assassinate demonstrators. By the end of 2019, the Israeli military had shot over 8,000 people, killing 214, including 46 children. Over 28,000 Palestinians were also injured in other ways, including over 300 journalists and over 600 medical personnel. Over the same time period, only eight Israeli soldiers were injured, one of whom died.
With the failure of the peaceful protests, and the high toll of the repression, opinion polls of Palestinians before and after the marches showed significant decreases in support for negotiations and peaceful protest. Instead, support for armed resistance increased.
Learn more about Palestinian history in the books at the following link: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/palestine?fbclid=IwY2xjawJWXb5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHauEazBVnBre0r97CTNS2Yj69jZWWUE30ljjHPBApBTViNCZN3oSoQnG5Q_aem_BKVjTpOTZoRE7GRHG4qj3g
