Labor activists and international influencers join call for global strike on December 11 as Israel strikes Gaza.
Palestinian activists and grassroots organizations called for a global strike on Monday to demand an immediate ceasefire as Israel continues its aggression against Gaza.
The strike call was issued by the National and Islamic Forces, a coalition of major Palestinian factions, to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and their supporters around the world to participate in a strike that would include “all aspects of public life” in a show of solidarity amid incessant Israeli attacks.
“We hope that the whole world will join the strike, which is part of a large international movement involving influential figures. This movement opposes open genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing and colonization in the West Bank,” said a statement released by the coalition.
“The strike also opposes attempts to undermine the just national cause of the Palestinian people,” he said.
🚨 We join the Palestinian people’s call for a global strike on Monday, December 11 to demand an immediate permanent ceasefire and a free Palestine!
✊🏽 MONDAY DECEMBER 11
Action at 9 a.m. at the New York Times
12 p.m. Open House @ TPF
6:30 p.m. Volunteer session @ TPF#ShutItDown4Palestine pic.twitter.com/BlbseNOZwf– The Peoples Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) December 10, 2023
The coalition called on people around the world to unite to send a message of solidarity with the women, children and elderly who have suffered Israel’s brutal bombardment of Gaza, which has killed nearly 18,000 people so far. ‘now – including 297 in the last 24 hours alone. – and injured more than 49,500 other people in just over two months.
In response to this call, Lebanon declared on Sunday that all public offices, primary and secondary schools, as well as official and private higher education institutions, would organize a general strike in support of the “global appeal for Gaza”, Lebanese newspaper LBCI reported. X, formerly known as Twitter.
A growing number of activists around the world have also posted on social media, calling on people to join Monday’s global strike.
Palestinians have called a global strike on December 11.
Fight against the genocide in Gaza.#globalstrike #StrikeforGaza pic.twitter.com/LHL0kBDywS
— Dr. Yara Hawari د. يارا هواري (@yarahawari) December 10, 2023
Rejection of the American veto
Muwafaq Sahwil, secretary of the Fatah political party in Ramallah and el-Bireh, said the strike, called by Palestinians, labor activists and international influencers, is a rejection of Friday’s U.S. veto of a Council resolution United Nations security forces aimed at stopping the war on Gaza.
“This is a message to the US administration that goes against the aspirations of our people. It is also a message from people around the world to their politicians and the international community to defend the Palestinian people who have suffered under occupation for 75 years,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“We hope this strike will push the international community to help end the war and meet Palestinian aspirations for self-determination.”
The 193-member UN General Assembly is expected to vote on a draft resolution on Tuesday demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, media reported on Sunday.
The General Assembly adopted a resolution in October – 121 votes for, 14 against and 44 abstentions – calling for “an immediate, lasting and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities”.
Calls for a global strike also came as World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday it would be virtually impossible to improve the “catastrophic” health situation in Gaza even whether the board adopted an emergency motion from the WHO to ensure better access to medical care.