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Israeli airstrikes in Rafah lead to emergency protest in Ottawa

May 6 officially marks a full week of student protest at the University of Ottawa, which is calling for full divestment and disclosure from Israeli-linked businesses and institutions. The sit-in-turned-encampment has grown significantly over the course of a week; read a recap of the protest’s development here.

Organizers tell the Fulcrum that organization and sustainability were key topics touched on during internal meetings throughout the morning and early afternoon — including sanitation, composting, and food logistics.

Earlier in the day, Israel had announced airstrikes would begin in Rafah, a city at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip. Israel dropped thousands of leaflets ordering Palestinians to leave the area; meanwhile, thousands of Israeli protestors assembled outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv urging for their government to accept a ceasefire and bring the hostages home.

Late in the afternoon, news sources began reporting that Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire negotiated by Egypt and Qatar, but that the terms were different than the proposal Israel had agreed to, and Israeli military operations would continue.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a statement just after noon that “[t]he military incursion will plunge this crisis into unprecedented levels of humanitarian need,” with many countries, including France, Germany, Norway, the US, and neighbouring Egypt expressing their opposition.

Opposition to a military operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians have sought refuge, has been expressed for months, with the Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand labelling it as “catastrophic” in a February joint statement.

“We urge the Israeli government not to go down this path,” the statement read. “There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go.”

The airstrikes led Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) Ottawa to organize an emergency protest beginning at the Human Rights Monument at the corner of Elgin Street and Lisgar Street near Ottawa City Hall at 4 p.m.

The protest arrived at Cumberland Street — the east boundary of Tabaret Lawn — around 5:30. Police liaisons guided the large ensemble as they made their way onto Laurier Avenue East and stopped outside the entrance to Tabaret Lawn.

Leaders of the protest expressed solidarity with their counterparts protesting at the Tabaret Lawn, called upon the university to divest, and upon the Government of Canada to issue an arms embargo.

A speaker noted the hostilities will not end with a ceasefire, and that this started with the “illegal occupation of Palestine in 1948 and will not end with anything short of the complete dismantlement of the Zionist state.”

• With files from Amira Benjamin