Violent suppression of the “Marches of Return”
Several marches and demonstrations have been, and still are, organized by
members of Palestinian civil society to demand the practical implementation
of the right of return. These are often brutally suppressed by Israel, in
violation of the freedom of opinion and expression recognized by Articles 19
and 20 of the UDHR and Article 19 of the ICCPR.100
One of the biggest marches demanding the right of return took place in 2011,
when thousands of Palestinian refugees marched from the West Bank, the
Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt towards Israel’s borders. This
march resulted in the killing of at least 14 Palestinians in the northern border
of Israel, where thousands of Palestinians from Lebanon and Syria marched
for their right of return.101 Over a 100 Palestinians were injured by the Israeli
forces during these marches.102
More recently, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have organized an ongoing
march103 that has been taking place every Friday since 30 March 2018 called
“The Great March of Return.” Thousands of Palestinians have taken part
in the protest, marching towards the border demanding the realization of
their rights. This show of popular mobilization has been violently suppressed
by Israel. Utilizing excessive and lethal force, as at 29 September 2018, the
Israeli military had killed at least 203 Palestinians in Gaza, 151 killed during
the demonstrations, and injured over 10,000.104 Of those wounded, at least
5,814 were injured by live ammunition, including 939 children. Those injured
also included some 115 paramedics and 115 journalists. Israeli suppression
of this protest has gone so far as to include airstrikes on Gaza, threatening to
break out into the fourth Gaza war in 10 years.
100 For more information about Israel’s practices of suppression of resistance, see BADIL, Forced
Population Transfer: The Case of Palestine. Suppression of Resistance, Working Paper No. 19,
December 2016, available at http://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/badil-new/publications/
research/working-papers/wp19-Suppression-of-Resistance.pdf
101 Anshel Pfeffer, “Fourteen Killed as Northern Border Breached by Palestinians During Nakba Day
Demonstrations,” Haaretz, 16 May 2011, available at: https://www.haaretz.com/1.5012507 [accessed
9 July 2018].
102 Alan Taylor, “Palestinian Protests on Israel’s Border”, The Atlantic, 17 May 2011, available at: https://
www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/05/palestinian-protests-on-israels-borders/100067/;
Ethan
Bronner, “Israeli Troops Fire as Marchers Breach Borders”, The New York Times, 15 May 2011,
available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/world/middleeast/16mideast.html [accessed 9
July 2018].
103 The march is ongoing at the moment of writing.
104 Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, “Seven Protesters Killed, Two of Them Children, and 257 Injured
at Friday Demonstrations in Gaza”, 29 September 2018, available at: http://www.mezan.org/en/
post/23230 [accessed 2 October 2018].
38
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