Arab lawmakers and community leaders in the West Bank have added hunger strikes to their mobilization to end the starvation in Gaza. They began a three-day hunger strike on July 27 and then gave a press conference in Jaffa that evening. It is part of a burgeoning anti-war campaign in the Arab community that included a 10,000-strong demonstration in Sakhnin, Israel on July 25. The community leaders are also planning a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv today.
Mohammad Barakeh, head of the High Follow-Up Committee, an umbrella organization representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, told the Times of Israel: “This is not an operation to save lives. This is a public relations operation that follows international pressure and the horrifying pictures that are circulating in the world.” He also said that their Follow-Up Committee has had plans in place to send and distribute aid for months, but Israeli authorities have refused it.
