{"id":130424,"date":"2019-04-01T12:01:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T11:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=130424"},"modified":"2019-03-31T09:33:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T08:33:38","slug":"everywhere-you-go-in-gaza-you-see-people-wounded-in-the-return-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/04\/everywhere-you-go-in-gaza-you-see-people-wounded-in-the-return-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Everywhere You Go in Gaza, You See People Wounded in the Return March"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hasan al-Kurd, one of the organizers of last year\u2019s Great March of Return in Gaza, says the protests gave people in Gaza a reason to live. In a frank interview, he talks about the shocking number of casualties, how Hamas took over the nonviolent initiative, and what he would do differently today.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Young Palestinian men who lost their legs after being shot by Israeli snipers in the Great Return March attend an Iftar dinner organized by a charity in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, June 11, 2018.
\u00a0(Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90)<\/p><\/div>\n

28 Mar 2019 – <\/em>\u201cThis is kind of like our anniversary,\u201d I say to Hasan al-Kurd, one of the organizers of the Great March of Return in Gaza. \u201cIt is,\u201d al-Kurd chuckles, \u201cI never expected that we\u2019d still be going for a full year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first time Hasan and I spoke was on the eve of the Great March of Return,. Al-Kurd had wanted to send a message of peace to Israelis. A year later, despite admitting that things turned violent far quicker the organizers expected, he says he still believes in nonviolence.<\/p>\n

The optimism that came through the phone line in that first interview was replaced this time by a sense of depression. According to figures<\/a> released by the United Nations this week, since the protests began last March 30th, Israeli forces have shot and killed 195 participants, including 41 children. More than 29,000 protesters were injured or wounded, more than half of them by Israeli gunfire. Some estimate even higher numbers.<\/p>\n

Al-Kurd says he didn\u2019t think it the casualty figures would get so high.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we would hold the march for a month or two. That they\u2019re still going is nothing short of astonishing,\u201d he says. \u201cIt only goes to prove that we can continue this struggle forever, and I say that despite the fact that one of our only accomplishments is that we gave people in Gaza a reason to live.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On Saturday, March 30, when Palestinians mark Land Day and a year since the protestsbegan, demonstrators are expected to come back in large numbers. Al-Kurd and the other original organizers openly admit that Hamas is calling the shots today. That bothers them.<\/p>\n

Over the course of our interview, al-Kurd expresses his concerns about high numbers of Palestinian casualties. On the opening day of the protests last year, Israeli troops killed 14 Palestinians. A month and a half later, on May 14, Israeli snipers killed 68 protesters. According to the original plan, the Great March of Return was supposed to be a family friendly series of events, nonviolent, and staying hundreds of meters away from the fortified fence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the injured everywhere in Gaza,\u201d <\/em>al-Kurd says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family is among the wounded,\u201d he continues. \u201cI can\u2019t walk down the street anymore without people blaming or complaining to me. It\u2019s not the wounded people who complain, those whose lives were destroyed \u2014 it\u2019s those around them who are the saddest and most frustrated.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hasan al-Kurd (Courtesy)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe understand them and we know it\u2019s not personal,\u201d al-Kurd says of himself and the other original organizers. \u201cFor every martyr, you see hundreds of wounded, and the wounded don\u2019t fully recover because of the type of weapons Israel used<\/a> against us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you a year ago that we don\u2019t have a reason to live in Gaza, and aside from the return march, most people here still don\u2019t have a reason to live,\u201d he adds. \u201cOn the other hand, people are very supportive \u2014\u00a0they understand that the occupation is a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you feel like Gazans still support your original idea?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYou tell me. A year later, despite the war crimes Israel committed, people still want to protest. That\u2019s the level of despair we\u2019ve reached in Gaza. The return march is the most talked-about thing in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that Hamas took over?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that Hamas took over \u2014 Hamas controls everything in Gaza. What they want to happen happens, and what they don\u2019t want to happen doesn\u2019t happen. The tents, the buses, the infrastructure to stage the protests, and the financial support comes from them because we, as independent activists, weren\u2019t able to do it alone. But the protesters weren\u2019t necessarily Hamas supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Hamas is leading the protests is disturbing but it also makes things easier. It\u2019s disturbing because we lost control over our original idea. On the other hand, even in our original idea it was reasonable to assume that the occupation would massacre us, perhaps with fewer casualties, but they still would have struck us. At least this way you know that there\u2019s a large organization that is taking care of the wounded and the families of those killed, and which takes responsibility. But despite that, the fact that Hamas is the face of this protest weakens the message that we\u2019re trying to send to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you see a connection between the protests along the fence, against Israel and the blockade, and the protests against Hamas that took place last week?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYes. A pack of cigarettes costs 20 shekels here. For you that\u2019s nothing but for some of us that\u2019s a day\u2019s wages \u2014\u00a0and that\u2019s if you even have a job. Fatah tried to exploit a legitimate protest against Hamas and\u00a0 take the reins, which gave Hamas an excuse to escalate its campaign against those protesting against it. As I said, the protesters at the fence aren\u2019t necessarily Hamas supporters. These despondent people took the idea of the protests that we started and they turned it against Hamas. The return march didn\u2019t achieve anything tangible and people understand that Hamas wrested control of them. So what happened? People turned their anger toward Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you something else. There\u2019s a connection between the protests against Hamas and the rockets that fell in Tel Aviv. I say that with absolute certainty. I told my friends after I saw the protests against Hamas and after I saw how Hamas suppressed them, that they\u2019re going to redirect the crisis toward the occupation. Resisting the occupation has always been a unifying factor among Palestinian factions. I remember it from my days in the PFLP \u2014\u00a0if there was a problem with Fatah we would resolve it by acting together against the occupation. Indeed, [the occupation] is the main reason for our problems and that\u2019s also true for Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

I steer our conversation back to the protests last year and ask al-Kurd whether in retrospect he would do anything differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy original plan was to protest a kilometer and a half from the fence and to approach it very slowly. We really wanted to throw a carnival for the whole family,\u201d he says, recalling a conversation we had at the time<\/a>. \u201cSome of that actually happened toward the beginning. But the other Palestinian factions, including Hamas, ridiculed us \u2014 and me personally \u2014 and thought that we needed to approach the fence from the beginning. And look at what happened. In retrospect, I should have insisted on that point. If we had done what we wanted, we could have gotten headlines not only about the blockade but also the return of refugees. [What happened] isn\u2019t what we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thousands of Palestinians march toward the the Gaza-Israel fence during a Great Return March demonstration east of Gaza City, May 14, 2018. (Mohammad Zaanoun)<\/p><\/div>\n

Al-Kurd\u2019s frankness is heartbreaking. The march\u2019s original organizers were a group of around 20 activists, most of whom were leftists. Only two of the group were affiliated with Hamas, and even they weren\u2019t involved in the armed struggle; they were just political supporters of the movement. Al-Kurd, a school teacher who lives in central Gaza with his wife and six children, had a tough year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole life is about the march these days,\u201d he says. \u201cIt impacts my whole family.\u201d<\/p>\n

I mention to al-Kurd that Palestinians in the West Bank didn\u2019t really throw their support behind the protests in Gaza. Last June, the Palestinian Authority violently suppressed protests<\/a> in Ramallah against Mahmoud Abbas\u2019 sanctions on Gaza. Activists in the West Bank say they are scared to express support for Gaza, and that\u2019s why they didn\u2019t take to the streets again. The fear created by the PA had a silencing effect, and Palestinians in Gaza feel alone in their fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t know why they didn\u2019t protest to support us,\u201d he says. \u201cYou should ask them. I still call on every Palestinian to take up nonviolent popular struggle and support us on March 30. We in Gaza don\u2019t have anywhere to escape the marches because they are here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli media publishes photos of \u2018flaming balloons\u2019 and paints you all as \u2018terrorists.\u2019<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cA year and a half ago I spoke with some Israeli journalist and she asked me what I think about a farmer who waits for his crops to grow for an entire year and then we, the Gazans, set it his fields on fire. I told her: \u2018Imagine how you\u2019d feel if you raised a child for 20 years and then he\u2019s killed or wounded.\u2019 Their imperviousness is simply unbelievable. And what about the fact that what she describes as scorched earth is actually our land?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friends and I who initiated this still believe in a nonviolent struggle and we don\u2019t want to harm any Israeli. So stop attacking us. I don\u2019t support flaming balloons because I want a nonviolent struggle, but I also don\u2019t condemn them because I understand where they\u2019re coming from \u2014\u00a0anger and frustration and despair that even you, Rami, as a Palestinian, cannot understand. And I hope that Israelis never feel what we feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s noble of you to say that, but here we disagree. How can you believe that people living just a few kilometers from you care about the horrors that their army reaps on you. While their army was massacring you, just an hour\u2019s drive away in Tel Aviv, they were in the streets celebrating<\/a> the Eurovision win.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s not that I wish them peace while we are being shot in the head and in our legs. But I don\u2019t want them to be harmed. On the other hand, I can\u2019t be apathetic to what they call a \u2018crisis.\u2019 I remember how, a year ago, when we started speaking, you told me that \u2018maybe 200 Israelis will come out in solidarity and that\u2019s it.\u2019 What can I say \u2014\u00a0you were right. Israelis have only moved to the right. It seems that only pressure from us can change anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jewish Israelis protest along the Gaza border in solidarity with the Great Return March, October 5, 2018. (Oren Ziv\/Activestills.org)<\/p><\/div>\n

And what do you have to say to Palestinians living in the 1948 territories (inside what is Israel today), like me?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYou said something earlier that really hurt me. It really bothers me that nothing happened in the West Bank. I know that your situation is also difficult and that those who occupy and kill us live among you. But nevertheless, if you hold solidarity protests on March 30, you have no idea how much strength that will give us and how much it will motivate us to continue the struggle. Even if you just stand at highway junctions and hold signs, do what you can \u2014\u00a0together with left-wing Israelis \u2014\u00a0and it will really give us strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Palestinian writer and activist, Rami graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where his political activism got its start with the \u201cTajamoa\u201d student group (National Democratic Union of Palestinians). He is one of the founders of the Palestinian activist group, \u201cKhotweh\u201d (a \u201cstep\u201d in Arabic), which focused on home demolitions and Palestinian identity in Lyd and Ramleh, mixed Jewish-Arab cities in occupied historical Palestine, particularly with youth.<\/em><\/p>\n

+972 Magazine is a blog-based web magazine that is jointly owned by a group of journalists, bloggers and photographers whose goal is to provide fresh, original, on-the-ground reporting and analysis of events in Israel and Palestine. Our collective is\u00a0committed\u00a0to human rights and freedom of information, and we oppose the occupation. However, <\/em>+972 Magazine does not represent any organization, political party or specific agenda. We see <\/em>+972 as a platform for our bloggers to share analysis, reports, ideas, images and videos on their channels. Each blogger owns his or her channel and has full rights over its contents (unless otherwise stated). The bloggers alone are responsible for the content posted on their channels; the positions expressed on individual blogs reflect those of their authors, and not <\/em>+972 as a whole.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article was first published in Hebrew on <\/em>Local Call. Read it here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 972mag.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 Mar 2019 – According to figures released by the United Nations this week, since the protests began last March 30th, Israeli forces have shot and killed 195 participants, including 41 children. More than 29,000 protesters were injured or wounded, more than half of them by Israeli gunfire. Some estimate even higher numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":130428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}