ON Saturday 13 January hundreds of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate in London on a National March for Palestine. They will be joining millions more who will be marching in more than 66 cities, in at least 36 countries across six continents, in a global day of action for Palestine.

People will be marching to show their opposition to Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip which has claimed the lives of more than 23,000 Palestinians, the majority of them being women and children. Organisers say Israel’s unrelenting attacks bear all the hallmarks of genocide under international law, as they demonstrate an “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

This week (Thursday 11 and Friday 12 January) the International Court of Justice began hearings to hold Israel to account, in proceedings that have been brought by the Government of South Africa and are being endorsed by other nations.

Saturday will be the 99th day of Israel’s offensive on Gaza, and there will be demonstrations in dozens of cities, in countries including the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Jordan, and Turkey.

The march in London will be the seventh national demonstration since October. Together with five national Days of Action, CND says this constitutes one of the largest, sustained political campaigns in British history.

CND General Secretary, Kate Hudson, said: “More than 23,000 people have been killed as a result of Israel’s invasion and bombing of Gaza, with thousands more suffering from a lack of food, clean water, and medical supplies.

“Millions of people will take to the streets across the world this Saturday, to demand a permanent ceasefire and a lasting political settlement for all Palestinians. The UK government must end its support for Israel’s brutal war in Gaza, and join the wider international community in condemning its war crimes. The longer the conflict continues, the greater the chance of regional tensions spilling over into a wider regional war which could see nuclear use. It must be ended as quickly as possible.”

The Global day of action was called by the UK organising coalition comprising the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Friends of Al Aqsa and the Muslim Association of Britain.

* Read South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice here.

* Source: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament