CROSS-BORDER SOLIDARITY RALLY FOR PALESTINE: HISTORIC EVENT SPANS INTERNATIONAL LINES
Solidarity for Palestine Across the International Border
When: Sunday July 21st, 1:30pm
Where: Prospect Point Observation Lookout, Niagara Falls
Peace activists on both sides of the border have organized a special cross-border rally, the first of its kind to take place since the 90s, highlighting the urgent need to stop sending weapons to Israel as it continues perpetuating mass atrocities against Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The international gathering will include American and Canadians of all ethnic and faith backgrounds who decry Israel’s siege of Gaza -- which has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children -- as it enters its tenth month. Activists on both sides will demand an end to Israeli war crimes -- including bombing of civilian targets, forced starvation and ongoing displacement of Gazans -- as well as an Israeli arms embargo, a hostage/prisoner exchange, and an end to the military occupation of Palestine. Organizers will also highlight how over two million Palestinians are captive in Gaza, with literally no safe place to go, and unable to enjoy freedom of passage, unlike so many individuals crossing the US-Canada Border on a regular basis.
Craig Mokhiber, an international human rights lawyer and former United Nations official, who is a local resident, and one of the event organizers, said: “It was here in the Niagara region, on both sides of the border, that brave citizen defenders stood against their own governments and the most powerful forces in society to oppose the slaughter and dispossession of native Americans, to risk arrest as part of the Underground Railroad escorting enslaved people to freedom, and to found the Niagara Movement in the struggle for equality for African Americans. Today, we stands on their shoulders as we call for an end to apartheid and genocide in Palestine.”
“Billions of dollars of US military aid is enabling ongoing, horrific violence against civilians in Palestine - we must end offensive arms shipments to Israel now” said Anna Falicov, member of Jewish Voice for Peace Buffalo. “We are joining our Canadian partners in calling for an arms embargo against Israel and an immediate end to US and Canadian complicity with Israel’s war crimes in Palestine.”
The border is also significant because Palestinians are unable to cross Israel/Palestine borders to return to their homes from which they were displaced from during the1948 Nakba, and have suffered decades of displacement and dispossession. Activists call for full restoration of human rights, freedom, dignity and security for all people living from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean sea. American protestors will also be calling on federal officials to boycott Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to US Congress on July 24th.
The event will include visuals that include banners and signs on both sides of the Falls. Buses from Toronto and Southern Ontario will be arriving on the Canadian side, promising a turnout of several hundred activists. Canadians will be gathering at Highway 420 and Stanley Avenue and walking to the Falls. At around 2:20 pm, activists on both sides of the border will chant in unison.
For more information, contact Anna Falicov, Jewish Voice for Peace Buffalo annafalicov@gmail.com