Stand up for Palestine!
The People’s Health Movement (PHM) reaffirms its support and solidarity to the Palestinian struggle for their freedom, land and dignity.
As a response to the 7th of October military operation by the armed wing of Hamas, the Israeli occupation forces have intensified their siege on Gaza, cutting it off from water, electricity, fuel, food and medicines while continuously bombing Gaza’s people and infrastructure. The available records indicate that till present 4,651 people were killed and 14,245 people wounded in Gaza, and 92 people were killed and 1,400 wounded in the West Bank. There are at least 1,400 people missing in Gaza, likely under rubble, and Israeli bombardment has damaged or destroyed 42% of housing units. (Updated on October 22, 2023 at 17:27 GMT). These figures continue to rise and include 500 Palestinians (among 52 healthcare workers) killed in the horrific Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital explosion, massacring shelter seekers on hospital grounds.
We see the genocide by the Israeli occupation forces in the context of a 75-year history of violence, starting with the Nakba in 1948 in which Israel destroyed 531 Palestinian towns and villages and expelled 85% of the Palestinian population, running through:
- The 1967 war in which Israel occupied the remainder of Palestine and expelled and dispossessed more Palestinians
- The 1987 Intifada when Israel killed over 1,000 Palestinians
- The 1993 Oslo Accords in which Israel imposed Palestinian self-administration in the form of the Palestinian Authority to act as a subcontractor for the occupation
- The 2000 Second Intifada in which Israel killed around 3,000 Palestinians
- The assaults on Gaza in 2008/9, 2012, 2014, and 2021, in which Israel killed at least 4,300 Palestinians and throughout which Israel had besieged Gaza, limiting the flow of goods and people and deliberately causing a humanitarian crisis
This is not to mention the daily systematic violence of Israel’s settler colonial regime, which affects all Palestinians, whether they are citizens of Israel, refugees, or living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, all of which has dire consequences for the health, wellbeing, and self-determination of the Palestinian people.
We call upon peoples of the world to:
- Organize themselves and express their solidarity to Palestine by participating in Palestinian calls for strikes and campaigns
- Continue mass protesting to put pressure on their government to immediately stop the ethnic cleansing through a ceasefire and end the siege, including allowing a safe humanitarian corridor to Gaza
- Call for dismantling the settler colonial regime that is founded and maintained on the dispossession of Palestinians and the occupation of their lands
We urge all progressive governments all over the world to:
- Condemn the Israeli war crimes in relevant international fora
- Cut diplomatic ties with the Israeli regime and impose economic sanctions on it
- Support investigations into Israeli war crimes
We call upon the social movements all over the world to:
- Adopt the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions: Boycott Israeli goods and institutions, including cultural and academic institutions; push companies, charities, and public bodies to divest from Israeli institutions; push governments to impose sanctions on Israel, including economic sanctions and cutting diplomatic ties
We call upon our PHM regional and local circles to:
- Show their solidarity and support for the heroic health workers of Gaza who continue to serve their communities.