In Amélia Carvalheira’s garden, red balloons with the names of the destroyed towns and a small pamphlet, hanging on the trunks of the trees, remember the events of 1948.
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Several hundred people gathered this Wednesday in a Vigil for Palestine in a Lisbon gardena solidarity movement “against war and genocide” that aims to be permanent and counteract the “inaction of the “governments of the world.”
In the Amélia Carvalheira garden, in the center of Lisbon, behind the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima, red balloons with the names of the destroyed villages and a small pamphlet are glued to the trunks of the trees and remember the events of 1948. the Nakba (catastrophe in Arabic) evoked on his 76th birthday.
In this way, the expulsion from their homes and lands of around 750,000 Palestinians before and after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, which coincided with the first Arab-Israeli war, was remembered. Misca, 1848; Sabalán, 1948; Al-Manaba, 1948…. The names of some of the dozens of devastated towns.
Through the garden, along with many young activists, also present musicians, poets and painters. There are João Reis, Rita Blanco, Dalila Carmo and Isabel Abreu.
“We cannot continue seeing that genocide, that death, whatever you want. Innocent children, women, being murdered by that criminal.”because of that dictator, and with the support of the Europeans and the United States, everyone pretends that ‘yes, but also…’, and no one admits it,” actress Rita Blanco, along with her friends, told Lusa.
On the grass, two large Palestinian flags. Many and many with ‘keffiyeh’, the Palestinian scarf. A banner also next to the grass: “End aggression, for a free and independent Palestine.”
The vigil was called by Unitary Platform in Solidarity with Palestine (PUSP) in Lisbon, and not far from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the New University of Lisbon, where there is an occupation of facilities promoted by Young climate activists, similar to what is happening at the Faculty of Fine Arts, in solidarity with Palestine and the establishment of a lasting ceasefire.
“We cannot continue seeing images on Instagram and normalize violence. It has happened and happens on social networks. The trivialization of evil, as Hannah Arendt said“continues Rita Blanco.
“We have already seen all the horror and we continue undaunted and calm waiting for what? “I don’t know what can be done, but at least I don’t want to stay at home, I don’t want to have this weight on my conscience.”
Dima Mohammed, academic and activist, was one of the participants in this solidarity protest that maintained the “open microphone” format. She recently returned from Ramallah, in the West Bank, where she was born.
“What is happening is a huge pain”he said in his statements to Lusa.
“It is our pain, but there is also a lot of fear of the very violent and uncontrolled attacks by the settlers. In Ramallah there is not a single house that is safe. The construction of the settlements was done in such a way that it was easier for any settler to be able to kill a person in his home. And Ramallah is one of the safest places.”
During his recent visit to Ramallah, Dima Mohammed also felt like a “source of hope”shared by the Palestinian population.
“The only source of hope I felt is related to the student movements around the world. Everyone was talking about it, every day they talk about the new universities where another camp was held. “It is having a huge impact in the West Bank, because the governments of the world are letting Israel do whatever it wants.”
The hope that “the people of the world move”in an almost extreme situation that suggests disparate feelings.
“In Palestine I felt both things, the abandonment of the governments of the world but also the solidarity of the people. And we have hope in that. The conversations reveal a deep fear, but they don’t want to talk about the fear. But then the conversation changes to students from all over the world. I was there last Saturday, there were demonstrations all over the world and people shared the protests on social media,” says the Palestinian activist.
“There is hope that this gap between the people and governments of the world will finally be resolved. It is the only hope for our Palestine. The complicity of governments is shameful, but the solidarity of the people is the only source of hope.”
The hope that tries to counteract the profound consequences of a conflict that seems to have no endas the hypothetical “two-state” solution.
After its military victory in 1948, Israel banned the return of displaced people and refugees, because it would involve a majority of the Palestinian population within its borders. On the contrary, and to this day, after successive generations, six million Palestinians remain in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria or in the West Bank territories occupied by Israel.
In Gaza, refugees and their descendants constitute around 75% of the 2.4 million inhabitants. And according to a UN estimate released Tuesday and based on figures from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 50% to 60% of the more than 35,000 Palestinians killed in the enclave by Israeli forces are Women and children.
All these numbers, all these data, seemed present in the more than 200 people present at the vigil, a protest that has spread throughout the country.
“In Porto there are vigils every day, in Lisbon and Braga every Wednesday”explains Júlia Branco, 23 years old, one of the organizers of this initiative.
“What happens in Gaza and Palestine is a huge crime that affects those who are there and the entire world.. “It is the culmination of all the oppressions that exist in the world,” he points out.
“Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and it is our responsibility as people with rights and freedom of expression to do everything we can. Including political pressure, so that our representatives also do something. It is necessary to continue until Palestine is free. It is our duty”, he emphasizes with conviction.
Nearby, at a stand, the Palestinian poet and filmmaker Dima Akhramis busy surrounded by participants looking for a ‘keffiyeh’ or ‘pins’ of solidarity.
“There are two options, theThe international community takes a stand to defend international lawin which everyone must be equal before the law, or else chaos will continue and situations worse than the current ones will occur,” he predicts to Lusa.
At that moment, chants accompanied by clapping were already beginning to be sung: “Down with Zionism, it will fall, it will fall / and long live Palestine resisting, resisting.”
Source: Observadora
