Thread by @JustWorldEd

1. As world awaits Week 2 of #GreatMarchOfReturn, it's good to understand what happened at this action's launching on March 30, the reaction of UN & other global actors, & the lies of Israel. Thread. @intifada @LinahAlsaafin @ThisIsGaZa @mikopeled @YousefAljamal @jvplive >

2. Some of the best documentation of the casualties/medical situation at #GreatMarchOfReturn came from @WHO (World Health Orgn). See the report they produced Mar 31 here: reliefweb.int/report/occupie…. Esp download the PDF of their report: reliefweb.int/sites/reliefwe… >

3. Of the 1,416 Palestinian noncombatant casualties of Israeli brutality (including live fire) on Mar 30, 179 were minors under the age of 18. There were no Israeli casualties. This was a sheer slaughter. Excerpt from @WHO report: >

4. Here's the @WHO's breakdown of the causes of the severe injuries from Israeli fire during Mar 3o #GreatMarchOfReturn: 758 of the 1,010 were from gunshot wounds. Click to see whole graph. >

5. Even while hospitals & med centers in #Gaza worked overtime thru the night after Mar 30 #GreatMarchOfReturn to deal w casualties (in addition to the 15/16 killed), at 8pm NYC time the UN Security Council met to discuss it, at Kuwait's urging. >

6. You can see @UNWebTV's whole video of the 70-min UNSC meeting here: webtv.un.org/search/the-sit… Main staff briefing was given by Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. >

7. Zerihoun's briefing seemed to give too much credence to what his people had been told by the Israelis. He said that the #GreatMarchOfReturn "resulted in violence"-- as if the violence came from both sides? >

8. Zerihoun also said some casualties came "during armed clashes btwn Palestinians & Israeli security forces including the shelling of a Hamas observation point." This makes it seem both sides engaged in these "clashes", tho no-one has presented evidence of any Pal/Hamas firing.>

9. As we know, the "casualties came during clashes" theme was broadly picked up by many US MSM including @nytimes. Plus, Israeli propagandists tried to portray many of the Palestinians killed as "active-duty" #Hamas fighters tho international law clearly states that >

10. All noncombatants deserve equal protection, whether they're total civilians or individuals who may have previously engaged in combat but are currently not fighting (as with off-duty, civvie-clad IDF reservists, etc.) Previous military service *not* relevant. >

11. Anyway, the "armed clashes" theme was a weakness in Zerihoun's briefing, tho he was careful to hedge a little by attributing it to "some reports indicate that... " >

12. But the wording of the UNSC's "official" report of the meeting had a very misleading intro, describing what happened as "the killing of civilians in Gaza during a peaceful protest that had erupted in violence." un.org/press/en/2018/… >

13. As though the violence came from the demonstrators?? >

14. Also, during the UNSC meeting the US rep there (not Nikki Haley but a deputy) callously blamed the victims, saying: “Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives.” >

15. Thus far, the UNSC has done nothing concrete (in the past 70 years!) to protect the Palestinians from #Israel's devastating recent violence. >

16. It was of the UNSC that in Nov 1947 imperiously "gave" 65% of #Palestine over to the country's tiny Jewish minority to build themselves a "Jewish state" there. UNSC's #PartitionPlan also decreed the birth of a smaller "Arab state of Palestine" alongside, but that >

17. was strangled at birth by a combo of Zionist/Israeli aggression & the oppressive arrival/control of the vestiges of Palestine by British-controlled armies of Egypt, Jordan. (UK still has a permanent seat on UNSC-- why??) >

18. Anyway, on #MLK50 anniversary, we note the courage, dedication, resilience, creativity, & discipline of all taking part in or organizing Palestine's 2018 #GreatMarchOfReturn. One great account of its Mar 30 launch was by @LaRawanPal: nytimes.com/2018/04/03/opi… >

19. Their courage & clarity seem to be striking a good chord worldwide, including inside US political system. @AliAbunimah has made the important observation that "Not one Democrat has defended Israel" over the atrocities it committed last Friday: electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abun…

20. @AliAbunimah notes that tho only 3 Dems have actually *criticized* Israel's murderous excess Friday, still the fact that no Dems have *defended* it is a real change. Including, during Israel's 2014 assault against #Gaza, many Dems expressed strong support for #Israel. >

21. Including in 2014 there was a Dem president who gave Israel "carte blanche" to do as it wanted. >

22. Looking forward to next 5 weeks of #GreatMarchOfReturn, what can we expect? The organizers of this action can be expected to continue to use creativity and civilian mass organizing to continue the action. >

23. We note the very deep history of Palestinians of *all* political stripes (including Hamas) engaging in civilian mass organizing. For their part, we can expect the Israelis to seek to disrupt such organizing through provocations or diversionary attacks, and to >

24. Continue to try to discredit the organizers of the #GreatMarchOfReturn by labeling them as "terrorists" or whatever. >

25. Everyone reporting on future #GMOR actions shd be careful in their use of language, & shd interrogate the claims of all parties (including the Israeli government and its many propaganda arms.) No more unsubstantiated accounts of "clashes", etc. We need better reporting! >

26. We also need clear grassroots actions in Western ctries to *end* the support our govts have given Israel & to hold it accountable. This is the best support we can give to all the Palestinian families traumatized by Israel's violence of last Friday & of the past 70 years.