Activists organized on Friday “Freedom March” marking the anniversary of the Naksa (the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem), in rejection of the forced displacement of the Khan al-Ahmar community east of Jerusalem.
The march was organized by the “Combatants for Peace” movement in partnership with the “Peace Partnership” coalition, which includes dozens of institutions and movements opposed to the occupation and settlement expansion.
Yael Vurgan, the Israeli coordinator for the Combatants for Peace movement, said: “We are here, Israelis and Palestinians, to hold our event in the village of Khan al-Ahmar, which faces the threat of deportation and is a victim of the policy of ethnic cleansing and the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank.”
Vurgan added: “It [Khan al-Ahmar] is a symbol of struggle, of Sumud (steadfastness), It is a symbol of the struggle against the policy of displacement, against violence, against discrimination, and against this despicable government that unleashes settler terrorists.”
For his part, Knesset Member Ofer Cassif of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) said: “We came here to Khan al-Ahmar to say no to the criminal ethnic cleansing plan aimed at expelling and displacing the people of Khan al-Ahmar. He added “This is another layer of the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank that has been happening since the Nakba. We say no, we resist, and we shall never surrender.”
The march began from the road adjacent to Khan al-Ahmar, proceeding all the way to the protest tent in the Bedouin community. During the march, activists raised slogans opposing settler terrorism and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. The march concluded with speeches from the participating organizations, the local community, and a representative of the Palestinian Governor of Jerusalem, after which Friday prayers were held inside the protest tent.
