Gazan Ex-Prisoner Calls On The World To March For Jerusalem

Gazan Ex-Prisoner Calls On The World To March For Jerusalem On Friday

Tawfiq Abu Naeem, one of the prisoners exchanged in last year’s swap deal which saw Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit exchanged for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, yesterday called on the people of the world to march in the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) on Friday, Palestinian Land Day.

“The cause of Palestine is the cause of prisoners,” he said. “We recall Hana Shalabi and all those brothers who have joined the hunger-strike to promote the cause of Jerusalem, and who carry it on their shoulders.”

As the day draws nearer, so too do the accusations that the march is a provocative attempt to de-legitimise Israel The International Committee of the GMJ denies this emphatically, and has released a document of Principles, named The Freedom Call, which states:

• We assert the importance of Jerusalem politically, culturally and religiously to the Palestinian people and humanity as a whole. We call for the protection of the Holy Places and all archaeological sites and consider all the efforts done to change its Arabic & cultural identity as a crime against humanity. We call on all international institutions to do their duties towards the city.

• The defence of Jerusalem and its liberation are a duty of all free people around the world and we call on all institutions, organizations, and individuals to participate in this duty.

• We condemn the Zionist campaign of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine including all ongoing policies intended to change the demographic and geographic situation in the city and aimed at its Judaisation. We also condemn the continuation of the Zionist occupation forces in building the apartheid wall that aims to expropriate more Palestinian lands and convert the occupied areas into shrinking cantons isolated from each other.

• We support the right of the Palestinian People to liberate their lands and to live on them in freedom and dignity like all other people on earth.

• We support the non-negotiable & inalienable rights of the Palestinian People including their families to return to their homes and lands from which they were uprooted.

• We reject all racist laws that distinguish between people based on ethnicity or religion and call for their cancellation and criminalization.

• The Global March to Jerusalem does not represent any one faction or political party but we call for participation of all social forces, political factions, and ideologies.

• The Global March to Jerusalem is a global peaceful movement which does not use violence to achieve its goals.

And the goal is simple – to recover their stolen land. “Changing the landmarks of the streets of Jerusalem and putting the Star of David everywhere, even in the smallest parts of Jerusalem, will not make us forget.”

“As we are calling today on people everywhere to take part in the Global March to Jerusalem, we tell them that neither days, months nor years will make us forget our cause.”

Link to video of Tawfiq Abu Naeem: http://youtu.be/2Wb-RkD9yeY

ENDS

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