By Burak Bir
LONDON (AA) – Palestinians went through the "darkest moment" in the past 12 months in their enduring struggle for liberation, according to the head of Europe's largest Palestinian rights organization.
As a brutal Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip reaches the one-year mark, deaths in the besieged Palestinian enclave have exceeded 41,000, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack last October.
The UK was one of the first countries where large demonstrations were organized after the beginning of the onslaught as millions have marched around the country to demand a cease-fire and an arms embargo on Israel.
Various groups formed an alliance in Britain to mobilize millions of people, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which is viewed as Europe's largest Palestinian rights organization, not only in the UK.
For PSC director Ben Jamal, the rallies are "unprecedented" in British history and there has not been a moment in British history since the suffragette movement in the early 20th century.
Jamal noted that one of the key things it has been saying since last October is that "history did not begin on Oct. 7."
"This genocide is built on the foundations of more than 76 years of oppression by the Israeli state of the Palestinian people through mechanisms of ethnic cleansing, colonization, military occupation and imposition of a system of apartheid," he told Anadolu.
Jamal stressed, however, that what has been happening in the past year is "undoubtedly the darkest moment" in Palestinians' enduring struggle for liberation.
"This is a moment of reflection. It's a moment of deep sorrow. It's a moment where we acknowledge the strength of the Palestinian people and their ongoing resilience,” he said. “But it's a moment of deep shame for our government, for the international community, that they have allowed this to occur, that they have not made Israel pay the cost for its crimes."
Asked how the group prepared for the mass mobilization of British citizens following the Oct. 7 attacks, Jamal said along with a coalition of five other groups, PSC spoke very quickly as they "knew what was coming."
"We knew that we needed to mobilize for an early demonstration, and we held a demonstration on Oct. 9. What we didn't know at that point, as I say, was how long would this go on for," he said.
A week or so after the surprise attack by Hamas against Israel last October, the first national march was held in London by the coalition, said Jamal, adding that they are holding the 20th march in London but some ask: "Why are they still marching?"
He said the answer to that question is “because the genocide is continuing, and because of our government's complicity, and also the complicity of companies, corporations, public bodies in the UK that invest in companies that are supporting the infrastructure of oppression and selling weapons to Israel."
He added: "That complicity continues. That's why so many people are continuing to march."
- 'Unprecedented, extraordinary pressure from political establishment'
There has been intense negotiation between the Metropolitan Police and pro-Palestinian groups about the times and length of the rallies in London.
In addition, the marches which were declared as overwhelmingly peaceful by many, were referred to as a "hate march" by some politicians, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
"We've had sort of unprecedented, quite extraordinary pressure from the political establishment and from the police during this process," said Jamal.
He indicated that the political establishment was acting often as a "lobbyist for the Israeli government," and responding to pro-Israel voices from the very beginning in a bid to "stifle any solidarity with the Palestinian people."
They said that “these were marches of people who were supporting terrorism or were motivated by hatred of the Jewish people ignoring the fact that, from the very beginning there were thousands of Jewish people marching," he said.
Jewish groups attended the rallies since last October under the slogan: "Not in my name" and rejected the Israeli government's claim that attacks on Gaza are to ensure the safety of Jewish people.
"Despite this repressive environment, the rate of arrests of people on the marches have been tiny, less than an average music festival," reminded Jamal.
The marches and protesters faced numerous provocations by pro-Israelis during the past 12 months which is aimed at "trying to sustain establishment support for Israel's genocide," said Jamal. "We are here marching for truth, for the rights of the people under international law and calling for an end to mass slaughter. So, we know that history is on our side, and we ask people to stay focused on the reasons why we're marching.
Asked if he thought the coalition would mobilize so many people when they decided to organize the demonstrations last year, Jamal said the numbers have been extraordinary.
"If you said to me, you think a million will attend, I would have said I would have thought that was unlikely," he said. "I think what's happening at the moment to the Palestinian people is unprecedented in terms of this is the first time in human history we have a genocide being live streamed."
Israeli soldiers are taking film of what they are doing, and posting it, and people are seeing "scenes of utter horror," according to Jamal, who noted it awoke something in people.
"It's made them aware of the dynamics of the oppression. When they see Palestinian children with half of their heads missing or lying dead under the rubble, their response, as a human response, is to say: 'That could be my brother or my sister or my son or my daughter,' and they want it to stop," he said.
He noted that continuing the vast majority of arms sales to Israel by the British government, including fighter jet components, also played a role in bringing people into the protests.
"We didn't expect these numbers. I don't think we ever expected that this would have continued for a year, but I didn't expect that Israel would be allowed to continue with a genocide for a year," he noted. "And I think as long as those dynamics remain, people will continue to march."