Gaza's Great Return March

Media and resources

On Friday 30 March 2018, thirty-thousand Palestinians in the Gaza Strip organized the largest civil protest in recent history in Palestine. The effort, known as the March of Return, was meant to commemorate the Land Day protests organised by Palestinian citizens of Israel in response to Israeli land confiscations. Demonstrations will continue through to the Nakba Day commemorations on 15 May 2018, also known as Israel’s independence day. On the first day of the March of Return, Israeli snipers shot to kill 18 Palestinians and injured 1400 others across the militarized border against the unarmed demonstrators who were within the Gaza Strip’s buffer zone and posed no threat to the soldiers. 

Below AFOPA provides a selection of resources and media relating to the Gaza Strip and The Great Return March.

[Header photo: Oren Ziv, Activestills]

Why the reference to "194"? The Palestinian Right of Return

The Palestinian right of return is the principle that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants have a right to return, and a right to the property they themselves or their forebears left behind or were forced to leave in what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories (both formerly part of the British Mandate of Palestine), as part of the 1948 Palestinian exodus, a result of the 1948 Palestine war, and due to the 1967 Six-Day War.

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 was adopted on December 11, 1948, near the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Resolution defined principles for reaching a final settlement and returning Palestine refugees to their homes. It resolved that

“refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.” (Article 11)

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This pedagogical project aims to correct the propagandistic character of mainstream media and educational coverage. Gaza in Context provides historical context, explaining Palestinian resistance, for what has been an Israeli narrative that exceptionalizes Gaza and removes it from the larger Palestinian struggle. This is an opportunity to understand the violence and Israel’s settler-colonial project.