Global March to Jerusalem.. Countdown Starts

On the 36th anniversary of the Palestinian Land Day, Palestinians all over the World will assert belonging to the homeland and the belief in their resistance, until liberation of mind and land.

The historic day of 30th March marks the Land Day in Palestinian memory; yet, Land Day this year will not be like the previous. It will turn to be an international event demonstrating solidarity with Palestinians and defending Jerusalem.

“The march will confirm that the policies and practices of the racist Zionist state of Israel against Jerusalem and its people are a crime not only against Palestinians but also against all humanity,” official website of Global March to Jerusalem posts.

Massive marches will be organized across the world; demonstrators from Asia, Africa and Europe will head to neighboring countries of Palestine – Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon – to gather in the nearest point possible to Jerusalem, with the aim of renewing efforts towards ending the occupation, through peaceful movements inspired by the justice of the cause.

All groups and institutions of civil society concerned will take part in the march, in coordination with the official and national bodies. Those marches will be composed mainly of those countries’ natives and thousands of international solidarity participants traveling specifically to join the event.

GMJ Concept

On May 15, 2011, an extraordinary incident took place. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Syria gathered at the borders with the Occupied Palestine, demonstrating their own revolution against the will of the world and demanding to topple the Zionist regime and its thugs sabotaging the future of Palestine.

Those young people, exiled from their homeland for nothing, had gathered in a heroic stand and tried to breach the border on the front, in a move they believed it might return them back to the land of ancestors. Hasan Hjazi did it. He went back to his Nation State to assert the right of return to all Palestinian refugees.

International solidarity here began. Human rights organizations and activists felt jealous of Jerusalem. In one united voice, they demanded to liberate Palestine peacefully, just like Arab revolutions did after the nations realized the influence of people’s will to make the change.

“In summer 2011, activists and civil society institutions of Asia, Europe, America and Africa, not to mention the Middle East, started to call for a global march that won’t be limited to Palestinian refugees only, but in which all the ardent across the world can have a share in the honor of liberating the Occupied Holy Land as well,” dr. Abdulmalek Sukariyya, media service coordinator of GMJ in Lebanon told Al-Manar Website.

Seif el-Din Maw’ed, media coordinator of GMJ also told Al-Manar Website that an international committee was specifically founded to coordinate the global march organization between countries, which held its first meeting in Oman, Jordan, under the presence of 60 countries’ representatives. Local national committees in each zone were also established due to the high pace of preparation, and the first departure of activists towards Jerusalem was in last February, when groups moved by land and sea heading to Turkey and Iran, where they were warmly welcomed by the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Palestinian cause is a just cause. I believe that significant preparations are going on in European, Asian and American countries. The march is turned to be an international event, rather than being an Arab or Palestinian incident,” Maw’ed said in an exclusive interview with Al-Manar English Website.

The Promised Day

“Those who won’t be able to participate in the central Global March, will organize mass protests in front of Zionist Israeli embassies in the world capitals and in the main public squares in the world, including the Arab and Muslim capitals and large cities,” Maw’ed added.

The Lebanese organizing committee for the Global March to Jerusalem officially announced last week that hundreds of thousands of participants in the march will gather in Beaufort castle, southern Lebanon, which signifies itself a great symbolic stand in the course of Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Palestinian factions and organizations, alongside major Lebanese parties and figures will take part in the promised day, in order to deliver a message of unity towards the just cause of Palestine.

Maw’ed noted that “the greatest momentum of the March is taking place in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, where national committees of Egypt is expected to organize a special ceremony Friday in Al-Azhar Mosque, in which thirty thousand people are to attend.”

Preparations

According to Maw’ed, international delegations in Lebanon will hold a press conference Thursday, after which they are expected to visit the cemetery of the Palestinian refugee camp massacre of Sabra and Shatila.

As for the Occupied Palestine, massive marches will be organized in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip regions towards the nearest point to Jerusalem. “Palestinian factions will unite and participate alongside international solidarity activists who are allowed to enter Palestine,” Maw’ed stressed during the interview.

“Zionist enemy is worried and suffers internal confusion as a result of the organized marches. It fears of a repeat of the May 15 scene but with a greater momentum this time,” he said.

A previous statement of GMJ committee clearly declared that on Land Day “hundreds of thousands of supporters of the Jerusalem cause, including Palestinian refugees and Arabs and Muslims will try – alongside free people of the world – to reach the closest point to Jerusalem.“

And today, Global March to Jerusalem represents an international movement that unfolds the racist policies of the occupation. May this move be a turning point in the nature of conflict, while the Zionist entity of occupation has to face millions of demonstrators demanding “Freedom for Palestine.”