Follow-ups - FiMED

The National Gathering of Palestinian Tribes, Clans and Families in the Arab and Islamic worlds has called for a state of «popular mobilisation» and broad solidarity with the Gaza Strip over three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, corresponding to 13, 14 and 15 November, through organising peaceful popular events and stand-ins to press for saving the Palestinians and halting their humanitarian suffering.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Gathering called on the ministries of endowments, the nation's scholars and mosque preachers to devote next Friday's sermon to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, to treat the day as a global occasion for solidarity with the Strip, and to affirm the religious, moral and humanitarian responsibility towards its residents.

It also addressed an invitation to the churches of the East and the churches in the Arab and Islamic world to ring their bells next Sunday as an expression of solidarity with Gaza, and to issue a unified humanitarian stance rejecting the continuation of suffering and death and calling for urgent international action to save the Palestinians.

Demands to end the «Peace Council's» role

On its position towards the political arrangements concerning the Gaza Strip, the Gathering described the so-called «Peace Council» as «stillborn», considering that it had failed to halt the residents' suffering and provide them with the foundations of protection and life. It demanded an end to its role, and called on the United Nations and the Security Council to intervene and shoulder their responsibilities in protecting the Palestinians and saving the Strip from the humanitarian catastrophe.

The Gathering also directed sharp criticism at the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which the statement referred to as the «Star Six Committee», accusing it of settling for meetings and promises at a time when humanitarian conditions are deteriorating and displaced people face the risk of death in tents and damaged buildings. It demanded that it either begin its tasks and shoulder its responsibilities, or step aside from its role.

A call for a national salvation government

On the internal Palestinian level, the Gathering called on the Palestinian forces and factions to move beyond the state of waiting and hesitation, and to begin immediately discussing national alternatives that lead to the formation of a national salvation government capable of shouldering responsibilities and unifying efforts to end the Palestinians' suffering and protect the population.

It called on the United Nations and the international community to urgently declare the Gaza Strip a disaster zone, and to take the exceptional humanitarian measures entailed, including allowing the entry of tents, mobile homes, rescue and shelter equipment, and working to save hundreds of thousands of displaced people who face the risks of rain, accumulating sand and the collapse of damaged buildings.

The Gathering concluded its statement by calling on peoples, institutions and living forces to break the silence and act to save Gaza, raising the slogan: «Break the silence.. Save Gaza.. Down with the Peace Council!».