The People of the Scottish Highlands Stand with the Palestinian People & Protest Against Israel’s Genocidal Settler-Colonialism (updated)

Hundreds of people attended today’s march in Inverness

‘It’s Been A Year, Why don’t you care yet?’ A sign from the march leaning against a tree at Bught park

It was a moving experience to attend the march today shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of people from the Highlands & Islands, Moray, and visitors. Many who did not march with us, cheered us on from the sides.

The event was meticulously organised jointly by Highland Palestine, and Highland Hearts for Palestine. Friendly Police Scotland were present to accompany us. To my relief, we had no trouble from staunch Israel supporters, Highland Friends of Israel. They have occasionally been aggressive during Highland Palestine’s weekly demos and vigils in Inverness High Street. (That group baffles me. I haven’t the faintest idea why they support Israel…)

We started outside the M&S on the High Street and marched to Bught Park, where we stopped and listened to the excellent speakers.

As we were gathering, the numbers just kept growing and growing

The organisers thought about everything, including tents with chairs for people to sit down, if anyone needed a break. There were plenty of marshals on hand with colourful high vis vests.

For me, the most moving part of the event was the silent sit-down on the Ness Bridge to honour the victims of Israel’s relentless, genocide.

A silent sit down on the Ness Bridge in Inverness this afternoon. I have been told that the green flag in the photo on the right, was made from scrubs. It is a product of a collaborative project between Tactics for Togetherness and Aberdeen Healthcare Workers for Peace, and it made it to Inverness. It has ‘Not A Target’ motif in the middle, referring to Israel’s systematic targeting of health care professionals.

There were families with children, plenty of wonderful activist dogs, and if it were not for such a grim purpose, it would have been a cheerful community event.

Dr Salim Ghayyda, the chief consultant paediatrician at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness gave me permission to share his speech. Dr Ghayyda and his wife were born and raised in Gaza, children of Nakba refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their original homes in Palestine. Dr Ghayyda, and his wife’s families are trapped in Gaza, subjected to Israel’s policy aimed to eliminate the entire Palestinian population.

Derek Newton is the founder of Highland Palestine. He has worked relentlessly and faithfully for many years to support the cause of the human rights of the Palestinian people, to protest against Israel’s genocidal settler-colonialism, and against the collusion by our governments, and media. One the most important messages that Derek offered in his speech is, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that what you do doesn’t matter.” He told us that what we do means a great deal to the Palestinian people.

For some reason I cannot upload the two video clips that I took from Derek’s speech as I did with other videos in this post. I tried sharing the links to the video clips here, but they do not work either. I have posted them on my YouTube channel and because they are very short YouTube automatically placed them in the ‘shorts’ section.

Important closing words from today’s march:

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