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Pro-Palestine organizations in France are braving France’s recent ban on pro-Palestine protests to take to the street and express their solidarity with Palestinians amid continued Israeli bombardments on Gaza.
Paris-based supporters of the Palestinian cause are preparing to demonstrate Saturday afternoon, while several other authorized rallies or marches are planned throughout France, AFP reported.
Announcing their plan to demonstrate, the Association of Palestinians in the Iles-de-France said they are ready to defy the French government’s ban “because we refuse to keep quiet about our solidarity with the Palestinians.” It added, “Because we will not be prevented from demonstrating, we will be present (at the Barbes metro station) on Saturday at 3pm.”
At the request of France’s Interior Minister, Gerard Darmanin, local authorities in Paris announced on Thursday that they were banning any demonstrations in the French capital to avoid “risks of unrest.” The statement recalled similar events in 2014, when pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Paris degenerated into “urban violence.”
Read also: Western Media Organizations Skew Information on Israel Attacks on Gaza
Left unsatisfied by the ban on demonstrations, the Association of Palestinians in the Iles-de-France appealed to the Administrative Court, explaining that they only plan to protest in a “pacific” show of solidarity with distressed Palestinians. But the court confirmed the ban on Friday. “Participating in a banned demonstration is subject to a fine of 135 euros,” the Paris Police Prefecture subsequently wrote on Twitter.
Gabriel Attali, the spokesperson of the French government, said the ban was “a pragmatic” decision. “We do not want to have scenes of violence, we do not want to import a conflict on French soil, we do not want a crisis of hatred in the streets of the French Republic, ” he explained.
For pro-Israel critics, journalists, and politicians in France, pro-Palestine protests are often a pretext for some radical leftists to freely vent their anti-Semitic sentiments.
Darmanin, the French Interior Minister, has asked the Paris police to closely monitor the gatherings of Palestine supporters and to ensure the protection of places frequented by the Jewish community.
For Palestine supporters, however, the ban and the justifications it has elicited among major politicians and media personalities speak of tacit support for Israel and its colonization of Palestinian territories.
There is a feeling that bans on pro-Palestine gatherings and laws by some European governments confounding anti-Semitism and legitimate criticism of the Israeli government’s policies may end up emboldening the Israeli government. Observers have maintained that the Israeli authorities are more likely to pursue the illegal evictions of Palestinian and the military raids on Gaza and other Palestinian lands.
Read also: Israel Continues Bombardment, Prepares Palestine Ground Invasion
Paradoxically, while Western governments continue to downplay the suffering of Palestinians by either looking the other way or justifying Israel’s “legitimate response” to “provocations” from Hamas, some Israeli commentators have been trenchantly critical of their government’s discrimination against Palestinians and Arab Israelis.
“This is more than a reaction to Hamas’s rockets. There’s something deeper going on under the surface,” Israeli political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin told the Guardian.“I don’t believe in both-siderism. It may look like this is mutual, but this is coming from very different places.”
Scheindlin was scathingly critical of the “increasing normalisation” of the Israeli far right and how politicians in the country have embraced the ensuing racism to appeal to more voters, according to the Guardian.
Sholomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, is even more direct in his recounting of the origins of the recent escalations.
“Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, its humiliating control of access to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the ever-present memory of the 1948 Nakba (the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians when Israel was founded), and the grievances of Israel’s Arab minority are all fueling the current flare-up,” Ben-Ami wrote in a recent article.
The ongoing conflict has left as many 150 Palestinians dead, including 40 children, and hundreds injured in the Gaza Strip since Monday, according to many reports. On the Israeli side, nine people have been killed, including a child, and nearly 600 injured.
But with most major powers engaging in both-siderism to avoid confronting the reality of Israel’s illegal settlements and the disproportionate response to Hamas’ attacks, many maintain that there seems to be no end in sight as the recent surge in violence threatens to claim many more lives and leave many families without a home.
