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Israel Murders 6 Palestinians, Including 2 Children, Injures Hundreds of Others, on Friday Gaza Return March

(WASHINGTON, D.C. 9/28/2018)—Today Israeli forces shot and killed six Palestinians, including two children, and injured at least 269 peaceful demonstrators in one of the deadliest days in recent weeks of the Friday Gaza Return March, which began on March 30 and is now entering its seventh month. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, all six victims were shot with live fire in their upper torsos. 

Thousands of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip turned out on Friday to demand the lift of the crippling 11-year blockade and the return of Palestinian refugees to their ancestral homeland. Since the beginning of this weekly march, the Trump Administration has adopted an even more punitive policy toward the Palestinians, cutting off humanitarian assistance, halting U.S. funding of UNRWA, and illegally redefining the meaning and status of a Palestinian refugee. The desperate and catastrophic situation in Gaza has only worsened, as Israel, Egypt, and the PA continue to strangulate its people.

Meanwhile, at a UN press conference this week, Trump once again failed to present a coherent foreign policy let alone inspire any confidence in his so-called “Deal of the Century.” Aside from bragging about his reckless Jerusalem declaration late last year and displaying a confused ambivalence about a one-state versus a two-state solution, he simply pointed to his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who “loves Israel,” as the person entrusted with striking this “deal.” 

Since Donald Trump’s election, the U.S. has abandoned any semblance of neutrality in this conflict, and adopted a foreign policy that simply seeks to punish Palestinians and strong-arm them into yielding to American and Israeli pressure to surrender their rights. In the face of this diplomatic and military aggression, Palestinians continue to resist all attempts to liquidate their cause for justice.

AMP condemns the recent Israeli crime against peaceful Palestinian demonstrators, and demands that the Trump Administration stops justifying these crimes and defending them. The U.S is being viewed in many parts of the world as an enabler of Israel violations of international law and international resolutions.

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