At times, the original flora [of Palestine] manages to return in surprising ways. Pine trees were planted not only over bulldozed houses, but also over fields and olive groves. In the new development town of Migdal Ha-Emek, for example, the JNF did its utmost to try and cover the ruins of the Palestinian village of Mujaydil, at the town’s eastern entrance, with rows of pine trees, not a proper forest in this case but just a small wood. Such ‘green lungs’ can be found in many of Israel’s development towns that cover destroyed Palestinian villages (Tirat Hacarmel over Tirat Haifa, Qiryat Shemona over Khalsa, Ashkelon over Majdal, etc.). But this particular species failed to adapt to the local soil and, despite repeated treatment, disease kept afflicting the trees. Later visits by relatives of some of Mujaydial’s original villagers revealed that some of the pine trees had literally split in two and how, in the middle of their broken trunks, olive trees had popped up in defiance of the alien flora planted over them fifty-six years ago.
—Ilan Pappé, from The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Palestinians in the 1948-occupied territory march to the sites of the pre-1948 villages of Hawsha and Kasyer marking the 76th anniversary of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba, today.
The March of Return occurs yearly as a commemoration of the Nakba, the “catastrophe” in Arabic, when armed militias, which would later become the Israeli military, expelled 75% of Palestinians from their homes and lands to establish the State of Israel.
Each year, Palestinians commemorate the Nakba in this symbolic demonstration at the site of a city or town that Israel destroyed in 1948, honoring the Palestinians who were violently uprooted and demanding that one day all Palestinians in exile can return.
Where can I find Free Palestine protests and Ceasefire protests?
A super international and continually updated list of actions can be found at Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network's:
Calendar of Resistance for Palestine 2024
They list events by date, then alphabetically by country, then by city - and it's common for them to have dozens of actions listed for a single date, especially on the weekends.
The United States especially often has 40+ events on a single day, especially on the weekends.
Events are posted with links to the event info posted by whoever's hosting the vast majority of the time.
Look blow the read-more for a list of many of the countries that have been on this protest calendar, in alphabetical order, since I know so many websites/lists of actions are country-specific
*Obviously this isn't the only good source of listings for protest events - there are many others. This is by far the biggest/most international roundup I've found, though, so I started with this. If you know another good place for finding ceasefire protests/events, please feel free to add it in the notes, bc I'm planning to put a bigger roundup together once I find enough other sites
Countries that Samidoun has listed/does list protests for include (in alphabetical order):
North America:
United States
Canada
Mexico
Puerto Rico (listed separately in anti-colonial solidarity)
Hawai'i (listed separately in anti-colonial solidarity)
Europe:
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Denmark
England
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Romania
Scotland
Serbia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Wales
SWANA Region (Southwest Asia/North Africa)*:
Bahrain
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Palestine
Tunisia
Turkiye (Turkey)
*Samidoun notes that "We know that these events are mainly international and that the Arab people are marching everywhere for Palestine – we will be honored to add more Arab events whenever we are informed!"
Asia:
Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Maldives
Pakistan
South Korea
Africa:
Kenya
Mauritius
Nigeria
South Africa
Tanzania
Tunisia
*Duplicating North African countries (well, Tunisia) here from the SWANA list btw