Haidar Eid is an associate professor of English literature at Al Aqsa University in Gaza. He and his students joined the Great March of Return protests near the Israeli border. Eid’s statement below was read out at the Socialist Alliance’s May 18 screening of the Palestinian film The Wanted 18 in Geelong.
***
We, the victims of a multi-tiered system of oppression, occupation, colonisation and apartheid, are fighting on behalf of the international community for the rule of law.
Namely, we are fighting for the implementation of UN resolution 194, which calls for the right of return to the towns and villages from which we were ethnically cleansed in 1948.
We, the natives of Palestine, have decided to send a clear message: Enough is enough. For that, we are paying a very heaving price; our children are being butchered on camera in broad day light.
The only window of hope we have is BDS [the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targeting Israel in protest against its apartheid laws towards Palestinians]. We call on you to promote a culture of boycott of Israel similar to the one you led against the inhumane apartheid system in South Africa.
Today, I am joining the marchers at the Gaza fence again; we will remember those who sacrificed their lives on May 14, but I will tell my comrades that we have supporters in Australia raising our flag and singing songs of freedom with us, so that our deaths are not in vain!