Global March To Jerusalem: 30th March, 2012
By Feroze Mithiborwala & Sandeep Pandey
08 January, 2012
Countercurrents.org
National Meeting At the Gandhi Peace Foundation , Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 23rd of January, 10 am to 2.00 pm
"But in my opinion, they (the Jews) have erred grievously in seeking to impose themselves on Palestine with the aid of America and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism. Why should they depend on American money or British arms for forcing themselves on an unwelcome land? Why should they resort to terrorism to make good their forcible landing in Palestine?" - Mahatma Gandhi (1946)
""When the Palestinians are free, our struggle will be complete." –
Nelson Mandela (1994)
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The past year has witnessed great upheavals across the world, where the masses are challenging the neo-liberal imperialist paradigm & clearly the US-Israeli Empire is on the retreat. And it is precisely the Palestine-Israeli imbroglio that stands at the centre of the geo-political crisis. For over a period of nine decades, the Palestinian resistance has stood at the very vanguard of the global struggle against imperialism & Zionism.
After having successfully organized the "First Asian Convoy to Gaza" - we are now embarking on the first "Global March to Jerusalem" . The Asian Convoy to Gaza, which was the first collective Asian effort, whereby 160 delegates from 17 Asian nations, marched across 8 countries over a period of 38 days. Remarkably, there were more than 60 delegates from India itself & this was really welcomed by our Palestinian & Arab friends, who all have great respect for India's contribution to the anti-colonial struggles & Third World solidarity. As we passed from city to city across the various nations, public meetings, press conferences & various interactions were organized by the host nations & the media was extremely supportive of this effort. It was indeed a historic venture that has now established a unified pan-Asian movement for Palestine.
The international land convoys & flotillas have all contributed to gradually ending the siege of Gaza & the isolation & delegitimisation of Apartheid Israel . After the Asian Convoy to Gaza, we Indians & Asians, reassessed our strategy in the aftermath of the Arab Spring & over a period of 10 months, in a series of consultative meetings with the Palestinians, the key Arab & international allies, it was decided that it was now time to counter the Judaisation of Jerusalem & stand in solidarity with the Palestinian masses.
It is out of that endeavour that was born the idea of the Global March to Jerusalem, scheduled for the 30th of March 2012 .
The Palestinians cannot & will never accept a Palestinian state without Jerusalem, which lies at the very heart of the historical & cultural consciousness & which Israel has unilaterally declared as its eternal capital, in violation of UN Resolutions & International Law.
Thus We now need to draw the international focus onto Jerusalem, which is the core issue & lies at the centre of the conflict.
The objective of the GMJ is to raise the global consciousness& awareness on the threat to Jerusalem, posed by the incessant Judaisation & the Settlement Blocks , as well as the monstrous Apartheid Wall , which have cut-off Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Our convoys will converge from across the three continents of Asia, Africa & Europe & will amass on the borders of Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon& Syria, with delegations that will join us from the rest of the continents & the majority of the nations of the world.
The Asian convoy will once again commence from New Delhi in early March & across a period of 20-25 days, we will traverse across Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria & Jordan. The African convoy will start from Morocco & travel to Egypt, whilst the European convoy will commence from London. The delegates from North & South America, Australia-Oceania will join the convoys, or fly directly to the bordering nations.
Thus in order to discuss & plan the Indian & the Asian convoy for the GMJ, we need to form & establish a GMJ-India National Committee that will undertake the responsibility to organize the convoys & the various related programmes in India & even seek to widen the participation in the international process.
We thus call upon all the leaders & representatives of the various social movements, across all the ideologies committed to the universal ideals of equality, social justice & democracy, to attend & participate in the meeting, so that we can create a vibrant & active Palestine solidarity movement in India, of which the GMJ is an integral part.
In Solidarity,
Feroze Mithiborwala & Sandeep Pandey
+91 9820897517 / +91 522 2347365
[email protected] / [email protected]
National Alliance of People's Movements - International Affairs Committee &
The Palestine Foundation (India)
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