Thursday marks the one year deadline given by the UN General Assembly for Israel to end its illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Major multinational grassroots organizations will hold a rally and march “demanding the UNGA take immediate action to stop the genocide now.”
It will be livestreamed beginning at noon at LifelineForPalestine.com.
Musician and activist Roger Waters will be among the speakers. Other speakers available for interviews include:
* Ubai Aboudi (Ramallah), Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), [email protected], (Arabic, English)
* Craig Mokhiber, Gaza Tribunal, [email protected]
* Susan Abulhawa, [email protected], @susanabulhawa
Poet Susan Abulhawa participated in the Oxford Union debate “This House Believes Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide.”
Location: New York 42nd St. Public Library steps, (476 5th Ave), march to Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza.
Time: noon to 4 p.m.
Roger Waters will perform live his new song titled “Sumud.” There will be livestream addresses from a captain in the Global Sumud Flotilla currently in the Mediterranean, a member of the dockworkers union in Genoa representing part of the coalition of longshoremen across Europe promising to shut down all ports if the Flotilla is attacked.
The rally presents the central demand of the call to action: that the states use the “Uniting for Peace” mechanism (bypassing the US security council veto) to authorize action including a UN protection force to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and sanctions and a military embargo on Israel.
International human rights lawyer and former senior UN official Craig Mokhiber said: “The entire world has watched in horror as the Israeli regime has perpetrated genocide in broad daylight. UN human rights mechanisms, major human rights organizations, genocide scholars, international lawyers, and now the UN’s own Commission of Inquiry have all affimed that genocide is underway. The Security Council is blocked by the complicit US government. But the UNGA has the power to act. Under Uniting for Peace, it can hold Israel accountable and deploy a protection mission to Palestine. In the next few days, we’ll all see whether each UN member state cares enough to act to stop genocide. If they fail to act now, or hide behind toothless resolutions, it may be the UN itself that is buried in the dust of Gaza.”
Here’s a flyer on Uniting for Peace being distributed at the event.
Heads of state address the 80th opening of the UN General Assembly beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 23.