The Higher Follow-Up Committee of the Arab community in Israel declared today (Thursday) a general strike on October 1st to mark the 24th anniversary of the October 2000 events, during which 13 people from the Arab community were killed. The strike, which will take place on Tuesday, will include businesses, schools, and public places, according to reports from WIT.
It is worth noting that the Higher Follow-Up Committee of the Arab public in Israel is an organization established with the aim of being apolitical in order to create a framework for various bodies belonging to the Arab community in Israel and to coordinate their political activities.
The Committee stated that the strike's purpose is also to express solidarity with the residents of the Gaza Strip and to protest the war, as well as in response to the incidents of violence raging within the Arab community and government decisions regarding house demolitions. In March, the Committee called on the Arab public to participate in a demonstration demanding an end to the "criminal" war and the "end of the occupation in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem."
The demonstration took place in the village of Majd al-Krum, while the Follow-Up Committee also worked to garner public support for a humanitarian aid campaign for the Gaza Strip. The head of the Follow-Up Committee, Muhammad Baraka, stated that "The war and destruction continue daily with its crimes. It seems that we are facing a war of extermination also in the West Bank. We have not remained silent from the first day. We call for increased activity in struggles and the unification of aid efforts, despite the restrictions of the occupation government.
At the forefront of the strike headlines is the war of extermination, but also the wave of crime, violence, and the government's impotence – which is complicit in supporting criminal organizations and house demolitions, especially in the Negev."