Palestinians to resume protests along Gaza-Israel border

The High National Commission for the March of Return and Breaking the Siege announced that Friday’s demonstrations will be held under the banner: 'The March is Continuing.'

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Smoke rises as Palestinians take part in a protest marking the 71st anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ (the ‘catastrophe’ that they view as resulting from the creation of Israel in 1948) at the Israel-Gaza border fence on May 15 (photo credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/ REUTERS)
Smoke rises as Palestinians take part in a protest marking the 71st anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ (the ‘catastrophe’ that they view as resulting from the creation of Israel in 1948) at the Israel-Gaza border fence on May 15
(photo credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/ REUTERS)
After a three-week lull, the weekly protests near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel are expected to resume on Friday.
The High National Commission for the  March of Return and Breaking the Siege, which consists of several Gaza-based Palestinian groups, announced that Friday’s demonstrations will be held under the banner: “The March is Continuing.”
The announcement was issued in Gaza after a meeting of representatives of Palestinian groups. The commission urged Palestinians to “preserve the popular and peaceful character” of the protests, and called for wide participation in Friday’s planned protests.
As’ad Judeh, a member of the commission, said that the decision came in order to refute claims that the weekly protests – which began in March 2018 – have ended.
The commission said that the protests were canceled in the past three weeks “due to the dangerous security situation,” and “in light of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s threats to launch a new comprehensive aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
The commission denied reports that the cancellation of previous protests was linked to Egyptian and United Nations efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire between the Gaza-based groups and Israel.
The decision to resume the weekly border protests came as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders continued their discussions in Cairo with senior Egyptian intelligence officials about reaching a long-term ceasefire with Israel. The Hamas delegation is headed by Ismail Haniyeh, while the PIJ team is headed by the group’s secretary-general, Ziyad al-Nakhalah.
According to unconfirmed reports in the Arab media, the Egyptians have promised a series of measures to ease restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip in return for a long-term ceasefire. Earlier this week, the Palestinian daily Al-Quds claimed that the Egyptian proposal envisages a five-year ceasefire agreement between the Gaza-based groups and Israel.
However, senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya was quoted on Thursday as saying that reports about an imminent ceasefire agreement with Israel are “inaccurate.” He told the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar that the talk about a long-term truce “or halting resistance acts against the enemy are completely untrue.” The Hamas official said that “forms of resistance may change, but we won’t stop resisting the enemy.”
Hayya said that the weekly protests will continue because they are a “form of resistance that drains the enemy.” A truce with Israel, he added, won’t “tie the hands of the resistance, and certainly won’t prevent it from responding to any aggression.”
According to Hayya, the Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip have enough rockets to be fired at Israel for several months in any war. He also denied that there was any progress concerning a possible prisoner exchange agreement with Israel.


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