The day set out each year to celebrate the city of Jerusalem has, this year, been dubbed the “Jerusalem Day of Rage”, in which hundreds of thousands of protesters worldwide have held thousands of protests to challenge the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza. In Lebanon, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah made a rare public appearance on Jerusalem Day on Friday to voice his support for the people of Gaza.Jerusalem Day is celebrated worldwide on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. This year, however, the occasion has turned into a day of solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Solidarity protests for Gaza have been growing in number and frequency over the past week, with hundreds of thousands coming out to protests in Europe, and Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and inside Israel holding protests on a near-daily basis.
In Hebron, Mohammad Rabah told the Mondoweiss blog, “People are on the streets every night everywhere, there are hundreds of people out in Hebron, but it’s really the most people in Bab-al-Zawyeh [the city-center]. It’s every night—I don’t see an end,” Rabah said. “We start with chants and shouting for Gaza, and then the soldiers will come out and fighting happens. They shoot [tear-gas], and sound grenades and bullets and we throw stones and Molotovs, it sounds like a war-zone here. Every night there is someone shot in the leg or the foot. They always shoot our legs.”
The most significant protest in the West Bank was on Thursday, July 24th, when an estimated 50,000 Palestinians descended on the largest checkpoint in the West Bank, Qalandia, which blocks their access to the city of Jerusalem. One person was killed and over 120 wounded when Israeli troops attacked the protesters with live ammunition.
