For over half a century, Palestine has suffered violence, humiliation, displacement and apartheid at the hands of the tyrannical colonial and occupational Israeli state.
The recent airstrike by Israel in Gaza, in response to the protests against forced evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and against the Zionist policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide, is yet another incident in the ongoing 73 years old ‘continuous nakba’, as the Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury puts it. The attacks on busy streets, COVID facilities and hospital roads, libraries and civilian residence towers killed hundreds, including several children, and injured thousands under the rubble.
Meanwhile, betraying a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian cause for freedom, India’s ruling dispensation maintained a dubious silence on this attack. In the May 27th historic special session for a commission of inquiry across historic Palestine, India abstained from voting, choosing silence, choosing to overlook war crimes in Gaza. This is not surprising when we consider India’s own manoeuvres to introduce nefarious changes in citizenship laws, abrogation of Kashmir’s autonomy, and more.
However, the people of India— students, trade unionists, academics and cultural practitioners have found ways to send their solidarity to the Palestinian people. Artists have come together amplifying voices from Palestine, musicians have declared a collective solidarity, and in unequivocal terms people have stated their abhorrence for Israel’s apartheid policies.
This episode of Waqt ki Awaaz, is dedicated to the Palestinian people, who in the face of continued repression have stood steadfast with their demands of freedom and justice. In solidarity with the people who have been uprooted from their lands and life, this episode of stands in firm defence of their right to a homeland, right to return, and their right to resist the occupation.
