05/15/18 05/15/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> what we witness today is the killing and slaughtering of people in the gaza strip at the hands of the israeli army, tantamount war crimes. amy: funerals are being held across gaza today after israeli forces killed at least 61 unarmed protesters. they injured over 2700 others. the massacre came on the same day as the opening of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem. pres. trump: exactly 70 years ago, the united states under president harry truman, became the first nation to recognize

the state of israel. today we officially open the united states embassy in jerusalem. congratulations. it has been a long time coming. amy: we will go gaza and jerusalem for the latest. plus, we will hear from a palestinian man who survived the nakba 70 years ago when hundreds of thousands of palestinians were driven from their homes when israel was formed in 1948. >> nakba is that a disaster on my heart, disaster of my family. the deserter of my soul. a deserter of my country. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the israeli military killed at least 61 palestinians in gaza

and wounded 2700 others for protesting monday's opening of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem israelias the occupation. among the victims shot dead by a .taffer was a 30-year-old man another victim was 8-month-old laila al-ghandour, who died early this morning after inhaling tear gas fired by the israeli military. tear gas was being dropped by drones. palestinian leaders are accusing the israeli military of carrying out war crimes. this is palestinian chief negotiator saeb erekat. >> what we witnessed today is the killing and slaughtering of dozens of our people in the gaza strip at the hands of the israeli army, and act tantamount to work crimes commit which we condemn with a strong as possible terms and urged the international community to move to provide protection for our

people. at the same time, we witnessed the movement of the american embassy to jerusalem, which is an act tantamount to putting the cornerstone of new settlement --posts in the occupied moving the embassy, now we have a new settlement outpost called the mechanism is a. amy: palestinians across the west bank and gaza have launched a general strike today to protest the killing. this is a bethlehem resident. >> today is a total strike here in bethlehem. strike today due to the fact yesterday in gaza, over 2000rchers and injured in a peaceful

against the move of the american embassy to jerusalem. amy: today's general strike comes on the 70th anniversary of the nakba, or the day of catastrophe. more than 700,000 palestinians were forced to flee or were expelled from their homes. the israeli military's massacre of palestinians monday sparked widespread international condemnation. south africa has also recalled its ambassador to israel. turkey has recalled both its ambassadors to israel and the united states and has declared three days of mourning. meanwhile, the united states blocked u.n. security council statement calling for an independent investigation into the killings. this is ravina shamdasani, a spokesperson for the u.n. high commissioner for human rights. >> we have been seeing the shocking killing of dozens of protesters and the injury of hundreds of others in gaza today

by the israeli live fire. these outrageous human rights violations must be brought to account. those responsible must be brought to account. and there must be justice for the victims. the high commissioner for human rights is calling on the international community to ensure the victims of these human rights violations received justice. amy: in the united states, young jewish demonstrators marched through the streets of washington, d.c., to protest against the opening of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem and the israeli military's massacre monday. this is protester sara sandmel. >> we're here building intimacy of freedom to show we as young do not stand with the embassies move from tel aviv to jerusalem. we believe that is an embassy that result -- represents in less occupation and we want to stand together for freedom and dignity for all israelis and palestinians. amy: as many as 1000 people were arrested in cities across the

united states monday during a national day of action for the new poor people's campaign. on monday, thousands of low-wage workers, clergy, community activist participated in sit ins, marches, and rallies in 40 states, including in north carolina, where people joined hands and sang as they blocked traffic in front of the north carolina legislative building. >> ♪ amy: hundreds also gathered for a rally and civil disobedience in washington, d.c., where women's march organizer linda sarsour spoke out. >> i come here as a muslim because my faith teaches me that i must stand with the most vulnerable people in my society. my god does not just to me to pray in the mosque, this act that we're doing today is an act of worship because my god is a

possible god. my god tells me to feed the hungry, feed the homeless. my god tells me to welcome the refugees. -- the god ofe abraham. sisters and brothers, our dear x said, malcolm freedom. if you're not willing to die for it, take that word out of your mouth. amy: that was women's march organizer linda sarsour, speaking in washington, d.c. shortly afterwards, she was arrested for blocking traffic. among many others. monday's actions, 50 years after dr. martin 13 junior launched the first poor people's campaign to protest economic inequality, militarism, and racial injustice. to see our full interview with the new poor people's campaign organizers reverend william barber and reverend liz theoharis, who were also arrested in washington, d.c., monday, go to democracy now.org.

"the new york times" is reporting that a special team within the education department tasked with investigating for-profit colleges has been virtually eliminated, ending a number of probes into for-profit schools where members of education secretary betsy devos' team had previously worked. among the investigations that has ground to a halt is one into devry education group. last year, devos named a former dean of devry education group as the supervisor of the team tasked with investigating this company and other for-profit college operators, including bridgepoint education and career education corporation. former employees of both those institutions also now work for devos at the education department. devos has previously invested in firms that own for-profit colleges. the catalan parliament has elected a pro-independence mp as president, seven months after spain took direct control of catalonia following its

independence referendum. votes know,yes, 65 and four extensions. rra has achieved a simple majority. according to article 4.4, is elected president of catalonia. [applause] amy: quim torra will now succeed carles puigdemont, who is in exile in berlin where he awaits a german court's decision on whether to extradite him to spain on charges of rebellion. other members of puigdemont's administration have been imprisoned on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds for having organized the independence referendum, which sparked the biggest constitutional crisis in spain since the end of the franco dictatorship in the 1970's.

in colombia, a new study accuses the colombian military of executing up to 10,000 civilians and then claiming they were rebels between 2002 and 2010. the practice, known as "false positives," was used to boost the army's kill statistics in the war against farc rebels and to justify u.s. military funding for the colombian army. one of the study's authors, omar -- said boys would disabilities were specifically targeted. colombian president juan manuel santos formerly served as defense minister from 2006-2009, at the height of "false positive" killings program. "the new york times" is reporting more than two dozen people have been killed by nationwide since 2006 after their keyless ignition cars were inadvertently left running in garages. more than half of the new cars sold in the united states now power on and off with a button, rather than a key. but this technology can trick drivers into thinking that the car is off, when actually it is still running. consumer advocates have called

on car manufacturers to implement new safety features to prevent drivers from leaving keyless ignition cars running for hours by mistake, which can lead to the fatal carbon monoxide poisoning. and the supreme court has ruled in favor of death row prisoner robert mccoy, who was sentenced to death in louisiana after his lawyer told the jury his client had committed a triple murder, even though mccoy had always maintained his innocence. mccoy was accused of killing the mother, stepfather, and son of his estranged wife in 2008. he repeatedly told his lawyer, larry english, that he was innocent of the crimes and wanted to clear his name. but instead, his lawyer decided to pursue a different strategy, telling the jury repeatedly that mccoy was guilty. in a 6-to-3 ruling, the supreme court decided mccoy now has the right to a new trial. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez.

welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. funerals are being held across gaza today after israeli forces killed at least 61 unarmed protesters monday in the deadliest day since residents of gaza began a series of non-violent protests six weeks ago at the gaza border. 2700 palestinian protesters were also injured. monday's massacre came on the same day as the opening of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem. today palestinians across the occupied territories have launched a general strike to mark 70 years since the nakba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes after the state of israel was formed. amy: on monday, palestinian -- months or condemned the actions. >> this massacre is taking place at the same time when the united states of america illegally and

unilaterally and in a provocative way is opening its embassy. it is very, very tragic that they're celebrating in a legal action while israel is killing and injuring thousands of palestinian civilians. this is the life of the palestinian people and those who think that opening the embassy open doors to peace, let them look at what is really happening in gaza strip. is killing 45 civilians and injuring 2000 would be helpful to open doors for peace or is it deepening the resentment and atmosphere of hatred between people instead of moving in the direction of peace? juan: meanwhile in washington, white house press deputy press secretary raj shah called the deaths of the palestinians to be propaganda. he made the comment in response to a question from a reporter. >> jerk kushner has put of the

fingers saying their response will for provoking violence but given the fact it is a live palestinians who are being killed, should israel not shoulder some of the blame? >> as i said earlier, we believe hamas bears the responsibility. this is a propaganda but to him. this is a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt. i think the israeli government has been weeks trying to handle this without violence. >> there were throwing rocks 50 meters from the wall and were faced with separate attacks. is the white house in the now of the reality of what is occurring? hamas is we believe responble. amy: we begin in gaza where wene d nspd arif abdel kouddousa puffin fellow at the nation instite. sharifare right there on the front line in gaza where the -- in front of the border between israel and gaza. poetryle the israeli

killed yesterday. describe what happened. 2700 others injured. that's right, amy. we are on the spot just used of gaza city where the most casualties took place. 27 people were killed to according to the ministry of health. it was a scene of chaos in many ways with burning tires, tear gas, young men throwing rocks and these kites flowing over. you have to understand the stabber bullets don't come in quick succession. it is not a barrage of fire. it is methodical. it is patient. it is precise. you hear a shot and someone falls down. then his bloodied body is carried away. you wait a few minutes, you hear another shot and another body falls. and that is how 1003 to 50

people were shot yesterday. slowly by israel. the death toll now has gone to over 60. overumber of injured is 2700. there were funerals yesterday and today. anay, i went to the house of eight-month-old baby. you have to understand, this is a very large space. there is the front line and you can see behind me, i will just point, in the background now there is some youth burning tires. just on your left, you'll see some mounds. stabberhere the --snipers are. very few people have come today. that is where a lot of the people were shot closer to the

border area. but many people were shot not close. many people were killed far away as well. where i am standing, people were shot and killed. the eight-month-old child was probably around where i was according to her family. her in hisas holding arms. they were watching from far away what was going on. an israeli drone came above them and dropped tear gas in the area where they were. she eventually died of suffocation. she turned blue. they took her to the children's hospital initially, and then she died there. they took her -- they could not revive her. f and was the wails of grie the houses. her small body was wrapped in the palestinian flag and taken out of the house to the graveyard. man,'s a 24-year-old young like so many young men here who could not find work, was unemployed.

came every friday to the protest here. his family said to express his rights and to send his message to the world that gaza needs to be free. he was shot, they said, about 100 yards away from the border fence. the shot hit him in the right eye. he died on the spot. there's also a 25-year-old woman who shot the day before very far away. near one of the main tents. she was hit in the stomach. she is now fighting for her life . she aptly has a speech impediment. the result of her mother was pregnant with her inhaling a lot here ingas 25 years ago gaza, which caused complications with the pregnancy. andwas injured in the womb now she is fighting for like 25 years later after being struck

with a bullet. we went to the hospital late in the day when the crowds started to leave. it was the scene of utter chaos. the hospital is self was bursting at the seams. this is the largest hospital in gaza. there was blood -- the floor was slippery with lead. there was dozens and dozens of men and boys shot, many of them in their legs, screaming in pain. i spoke to a doctor who had worked there for 17 years and he said he'd never seen a day like this. the palestinian red crescent has deployed 58 ambulances yesterday in gaza. it was not enough to carry the wounded. they started using their administrative cars fe tworry -- ferry people back and forth to hospitals to try and get them care. it was really a devastating day. juan: i want to ask you in terms the linestance between

of israeli soldiers and the actual protesters, could you give us a sense of how far apart they are? because honestly, israelis claiming their soldiers are in danger. they're also claiming hamas is using the protest to insert armed fighters into israeli territory. could you respond to those crimes as well from what you could tell? >> let me just show you what it looks like. just over here to my right, you is right- the border there. i don't know if you can see the mouthfuls of the camera mention be focusing on one of them. that is were these diapers are. you are three sets of fences. there are three sets of fences, barb dwyer, that is set up and then two more. the main fence, and then you have these snipers. who arethe people

close, they will get really close to the first piece of barb wire. a lot of them try to put hooks on it and political away. slingshots to try and fire on the soldiers. i was a most of those people are more than 50 yards away. there throwing rocks at these soldiers. some people do manage to cross. they cross in, but even then, no one has any guns. they have either a molotov cocktail or a rock. really it is hard to imagine how any of them pose an imminent threat to life to any soldier. not a single soldier has been injured. honestly, a lot of these people, as i mentioned before, were not shot at the fence. a large number were. i myself saw when i approached near the first set of barbed wired, people shot just ending

there. just facing and looking. there is a lot of talk of this being clashes and so forth, but it wasn't really classes. there was no real threat to the other side as far as i could see. amy: sharif, can you talk about this coming together of today, the 70th anniversary of what is known as the nakba -- and if you can explain that word in arabic for catastrophe -- and the opening of the u.s. embassy in ceremonialsort of because in fact it is not opening their right now, it remains in tel aviv as they built it? today is the 70th anniversary to what houston is referred to as the nakba. it means catastrophe. whenrked the moment something like 720 or 750,000 palestinians were forcibly

displaced from their homes to gaza, to hear, to the west bank and to countries like lebanon and jordan and syria. and for 70 years, there called for the right to return. there is the u.n. resolution that ensures the right to return. for 70 years, they've been denied that right. there is 1.9 million palestinians living in gaza right now. 1.3 million are refugees. there recognized as refugees by the united nations. there are eight sprawling refugee camps which have been here for decades. so the right to return is something that is at the very core of the palestinian issue, of the palestinian national project to the palestinian cause. that is why they called these marches the great march of return. the idea was to approach where they walk up to the border and

said, we will implement the right ourselves. we will cut the wires and cross. so people did try to cut the wires and they did cross. they would quickly go back. a lot of them were shot when they did. this was an attempt because after decades of negotiation, negotiations that brought them nothing except bigger prisons and do something of a garrison state they're living under, not even a state -- so this was a key issue. this all began march 30, which is land day and palestine. it has continued every week. a lot of these issues are coming together here. it is the 70th anniversary of what they call the nakba, calling for the right to return. it is a transfer of the u.s. embassy to jerusalem and the feeling that jerusalem becoming the capital of israel is try to be forcefully implemented. and of course it is about the

siege in gaza which has gone on for 11 years and has made life utterly intolerable here. jerusalem is very poor and to people here. many of them have never been -- very important to people here. and many of them have never been. they can't really go anywhere. many of them have not left gaza because the borders are close to them. many of them were walking to the borders in this kind of protest. but also the siege has affected every aspect of life. it is all of these things coming together, the right of return, the siege, the regional politics that have given birth to this movement, which is not just hamas, it includes hamas fatah, the main political parties, and includes broad swaths of civil society. it is an idea that has been brewing for quite some time now. they're hoping that it would bring some kind of change. amy: sharif, the plans for today, the general strike that has been called, the protests

across not only gaza but also throughout the west bank, are they affected ao by what took place yesterday, the israeli military killing 61 people, it looks like is the total at this point? as you said, shooting over 1000 others, injuring twice 700 people.- injuring 2700 frome strike is continuing yesterday to today. the numbers today are much, much smaller. the lowest turnout i have seen. we did not see buses bringing in people as we saw yesterday. we did not hear on loudspeakers out of mosques and cars that drive around the streets calling for people to come out. so there has that been the same cut a mobilization effort. it is unclear exactly why of negotiations are happening, the hamas leader went to egypt and a

carefully there is negotiations with the opening of the only border crossing in gaza that is that controlled by israel. and maybe the level of violence has quelled the numbers here somewhat. 61 people shot in this kind of slow and methodical way. and so many more injured. when we are talking about the injured, you have to understand, as i mentioned yesterday, these are high velocity bullets that really cause terrible damage to the body. bones are pulverized. there is massive tissue damage. wounds.gaping many of these people are going to suffer long-term consequences. many of these people will be disabled for the rest of their lives. it really had a devastating effect. again, people insist this was peaceful. people did use rocks and try and fly these kites with these

makeshift burning items on the bottoms. some of them fell on the side of the border. it really was not a very , but theytechnique insisted this is peaceful resistance because there are a lot of weapons in gaza. hamas and other groups to have rockets they can fire, but the decision was made by the combined leadership not to use any weapons, not to fly any flags other than the palestinian flags. not to have any military uniforms. that was adhered to 100%. this was supposed to be a different kind of struggle in gaza than once we have seen in the past. amy: we're speaking to sharif abdel kouddous, democracy now! correspondent, puffin fellow at the nation institute speaking to in gaza.he front lines when we come back, we will broaden this discussion and go to jerusalem, sweden where we will be speaking here in new york about this 70 anniversary of the nakba, the arabic word

expulsiontrophe" the or forcing to flee, hundreds of thousands of palestinians, and the ceremonial opening of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem yesterday. this is democracy now! back with you in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. now to jerusalem, usb budour hassan is with palestinian writer and project , coordinator for the jerusalem center for legal aid and human rights. we want to first go to what happened yesterday in jerusalem our isr from where bud now. we want to turn to jared kushner, the senior advisor to his father-in-law come the president of the united states

donald trump. he represented trump at monday's opening of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem. he described the protesters in gaza as part of the problem. >> as we have seen from the protest of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution. [applause] amy: but those remarks were later excised from the official version of events. we're going to move from jerusalem where we have just lost our satellite feed to sweden to a writer and activist from the gaza strip and student of development studies in sweden . his latest piece for the forward is "all we in gaza want is that israel recognize our humanity." if you could, mohammed, talk

about what is taking place right now. your brother is on the front lines in gaza of the protest? actually was. he recently managed to get out of gaza after waiting for two years at the border crossing, which was a miraculous divine intervention. virtually everyone i know in -- the problem that pushes them to the wall is that life at the refugee camps, they experience debt thousands of times a day let the borders of the either breakthrough or die. people are trying to undertake a massive jailbreak out of what david cameron, the prime minister or former prime minister of britain had an

open-air prison. what they call the palestinian ghetto. is also called the largest concentration camp ever to exist. then you have the cold war return, which is the main theme of the product. that represents even deeper and deeper desperation amongst the masses. with israel return claims an attempt to destroy the state of israel, but rather thes gazans have given up place where they are caged. they are trying to right the only wrong in their life that causes all of their misery, mainly being -- namely being born on the wrong side of the fence. the separation fifth is what separates between life and death , future and going nowhere.

juan: i want to ask about this issue of the open-air prison. most people around the world do theunderstand how contained residents of gaza are. can you talk about how difficult it is even to get in or out of gaza for either palestinians or even other international visitors? well, for the gaza strip, what you have is harvard scholar calls 2 million people, most of whom who are children, slowly being poisoned by the water they trick the soil in which they plant. moreover, those julie people are not allowed to virtually, to leave at all. sealed fromletely sea, air, and land. there are two border crossings that are almost virtually permanently closed. the israeli border crossing only about 500 people managed to leave gaza annually.

if you put that in numbers, that is absolutely nothing of the appellation. the egyptian border crossing is far more disappointing and disheartening. it opens three days a month at most. that is the best of it. last rate open about 14 days in the entire year. and when it opens, palestinians experience and less waiting, suffocating heat, blackmailed, and detention in writing sales. qqat you have on the rafa borders waiting at least 18 months to come out of it and then you are thrown to this room of egyptians side of the border. you sleep though the whole night. every 10 minutes and egyptian officer will come out and announce another name and that name will be thrown back to gaza without further explanation. you absolutely don't want to be the next one. so you would do anything at all

not to be sent back into prison. the easiest way to get out is paying a price between $2000 to 10,000 borders. if you put that in proportion with the per capita, it is completely unaffordable. people absolutely, 70% of the population are unemployable, not only unemployed, there are no opportunities. you have an economy that is completely compromised and destroyed. you don't have any person who could afford that amount of money except for very few exceptions. coordinateded the passages. if you pay that amount coming could easily come out of gaza. otherwise, you would sleep there at least for one or two days in that room detained until you get your name sent back to gaza. and then if you buy divine intervention manage to break out

of the siege and your name is accepted for departure, you will be sent in transient in buses shuttled to the borders, to the airport directly, the cair international airport like a detainee or prisoner. on the way, you have at least tens of that hundreds of checkpoints, military checkpoints in the sinai peninsula. at each one of them, you are stopped, inspected, kicked out of the bus, your bags are emptied, whatever they please they could take him and then you proceed to the next one. there are -- they are highly specialized at each checkpoint. at the airport your deposited in what is called the transient room, which is basically an underground prison cell. theas a door handle from outside, not the inside. when you go inside it, you will have absolutely nothing. they take all of your electronic devices ba come yourgs. they just send you in to sleep

on rotting mattresses until your flight is due. in,for people to come basically, basically denied entry for any person who is trying to come to gaza with very limited exceptions of press personnel with press credentials. international ngos, high officials, etc., etc. there have been many cases where israel denied entry for even the highest ranks in the united nations. if you take, for instance, the high commissioner of human rights, he was denied entry into gaza several times. if you take the diplomatic missions in the west bank, the european diplomatic missions, i know many of the representatives there who were never allowed to gaza except once in their entire servitude.

amy: of course, we just spoke to , the head ofawyers the center for constitutional rights and a columbia law professor. they went to israel. they were deported right back to the united states. , you havehehada written many pieces. among the pieces, "what if it were your child killed in gaza?" he started off with my mother started to scream on friday when she learned my 18 euro brother went to the protest without telling her. she cried on and off all day in a state of hysterical panic until he returned back home safely at night. you wrote an opinion piece "marching in gaza: my brother risks death to feel free. and we must speak up against israel's slaughter in gaza." , talk about the organizing of these mass

protests that have been going on since march 30, supposedly culminating today. the main target or goal is basically finding life. people's livelihood has been completely destroyed behind the fence. afterfuture is literally the fence. if they managed to break out of gaza, although, they are prisoners. that is exactly what they want. the separation fence is a window the people of gaza to always stare at israelis on the other side, leading normal an organized life will stop this does not only can only jealousy, but also extreme anger and outrage for how come on earth the entire world is watching 2 million people chained to the ground, dying slowly, and doing absolutely nothing. then you have the israeli

response to the nonviolent protesters. basicallybehind it is the recent footage released by the israeli ngos, where one soldier advises a fellow soldier not to shoot at people from a distance, but to actually wait until they come closer and then turn one of them into a cautionary tale because the soldier believes this will prevent the rest from throwing rocks on the soldiers when one of them is put on a wheelchair for the rest of his life. this is exactly the same scenario repeating itself in gaza. israel is determined to teach gazans are lessons that nonviolence is not the way forward. nonviolence cannot get you anyway ford. juan: i want to ask you about the visit of the ivanka trump injured kushner, the daughter and son-in-law of the president

to jerusalem yesterday. the white house talks about a propaganda effort, but really, this visit and some degree was a propaganda effort because there is no embassy. the was just to announce beginning of creating the embassy there, moving it, but there is no embassy there. could you talk about the impact on you and other palestinians of this decision of the trump administration? >> well, the decision of the trump administration represents most of people in gaza one extreme indication. the world is moving on. the status quo will not only be perpetuated, but is going to be worse. in gaza, yesterday is remembered with such fondness. today, insufferable misery, memorable so death. and tomorrow will be worse. that is the rule. and if you're sick of your life,

to shake than half a dollar will take you to the borders. the visit of a ivanka trump and jeered kushner yesterday was disappointing in the sense that people of gaza are relatively resilient to what they have endured and experienced. the tribulation, unspeakable tribulations. the things that killed your hopes the most is seeing that the world is standing ignorant and turning a blind eye to what is happening. and while at least 60 people in gaza were killed and massacred in a bloodbath, jared kushner was making the ultimate happy speech about the success of israel and a strong american-israel relationships that are based on democracy. and then what was the most extreme about it is i think what you mentioned already when jared was in the people in gaza who are marching and risking their lives and walking toward debt

are part of the problem, not the solution. his what is the solution in head, just exterminating the entire population? amy: muhammad shehada, we want to thank you for being with us, writer and activist from the gaza strip, a student of development studies at lund university. stay with us as we turn now to budour hassan. we have lost her on satellite in jerusalem, but i think we have her on the phone, palestinian writer and project coordinator for the jerusalem center for legal aid and human rights. you were right there in jerusalem not far from the embassy office, i guess you could call it, again, most of the work will continue for the u.s. embassy in tel aviv. but your thoughts on opening yesterday, how many people turned out in jerusalem to protest it, who went in? there were hundreds of palestinians in jerusalem, both

palestinian residents of jerusalem and those with israeli citizenship to protest the embassy. just honest, it was not the protest of the embassy opening. it was the massacre that was taking place in gaza against israeli impunity. while officers were celebrating the opening of the sea, palestinians were being massacred. expressing the right of return. we're marking the 70th anniversary of the nakba. while we are credibly angry about the moving of the embassy, we know this is one of the details, one of the manifestations of the ongoing support for israel. but we're also aware the root cause of what is going on happened 70 years ago. the ethnic cleansing of

palestinians. this is still ongoing in jerusalem, in the west bank, against palestinians. this is why we were protesting yesterday. we were protesting against the opening of the embassy which symbolizes this long-standing u.s. support for israel, which is just one of many details of israel's everyday oppression of palestinians. many were prevented from arriving. there also protests in the west bank. it yesterday exemplifies how was a different system of oppression against palestinians. israel was to convey in image of sovereignty over jerusalem. it uses control. it uses tear gas and rubber

bullets. [indiscernible] massacres people with staffer shots and bullets. sniper shot and bullets. regardless of where we are as palestinians, all of us are being targeted. to israel, all of us are disposable. disposeabhierarchy of ility. we wanted to show the people of gaza for us, we are not disposable. we are part of the same people. we share the same evening for the right of return -- share the same year ending the right of

return. juan: i want to bring in tareq baconi who is here in studio and a member of the palestinian .olicy network, policy fellow your assessment of what this latest carnage means in terms of the rest of the world reacting to having to deal with the israeli-palestinian conflict? >> i think what is happening on the ground now is a clear indication of the fact that there is a recalibration happening in the struggle most of the palestinian liberation failed to provide palestinians with rights. what we're seeing is palestinians taking measures into their own hands. we're seeing people start to call for rights going back to the roots of their struggle. now with jerusalem off the table, we have palestinians calling for the right of return 1948, not to demand

1967. we're seeing palestinians start mass mobilization, civil protest, nonviolent protest, which have always formed part of the palestinian struggle for liberation since 1948, but have often been hijacked by peace processes and negotiations that have gone nowhere. what we're seeing on the ground now is a disintegration of this for of diplomacy as a means achieving palestinian rights and really going back to the roots where people are marching out in numbers, demanding equality, demanding freedom, being fed up and disenchanted with their political leaders in deciding to take measures into their own hands. they spoke eloquently about how this really represents a coming together of palestinians and their different cages where there in the west bank or gaza come all protesting

for the one thing that unites them, which is the right of return, which is equality and freedom. really this is a position where palestinians are at a moment of transition where it is very clear the political leadership has failed, where it is great clear the americans are completely behind israel's expansionist policies, and clear that israel's right ring speaking ofe openly annexation. they get away with it with impunity in the international community. what we're seeing now is a reassertion of those palestinian rights. amy: tareq baconi is author of a new book just out called "hamas contained: the rise & pacification of palestinian resistance." we will be back with him in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we turn to someone who survived the nakba 70 years ago, , bornme is mahmoud salah

the village just outside of jerusalem where he was born and the day it was invaded when he was a teenager in 1948. he talks about moving from camp to camp before he was sent on a ship to south america. then he went to columbia. he has since returned to visit his village, sar'a, but says not much remains of it except for the shrine of samson, which is now an israeli tourist attraction. i spoke to mahmoud salah on monday or he now lives in chicago. i asked him what nakba means to him. disastermeans it is a on my heart. a deserter of my family. a deserter of my soul.

becauseer of my country history of myhe country, my grandfather, grandmother, deserter of my religion, my school. it was destroyed. word that-- it is a is very every strange. it is still in my heart and i give it to my son. i give it to everybody i know from the family. amy: what are your thoughts as president trump moves the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem? >> jerusalem is not his house. and he is that the one who makes .he decision

if he is the real president, mr. trump, he should make peace. peace between two people. amy: when you see what is happening in gaza right now, the nonviolent protests on the border with israel come the latest count we have is 50 israeli --israeli military has killed 50 palestinians. >> assent said to the people of gaza, you're the most brave people ever and you are defending your life. and don't worry if you die, you go to god. paradise and keep fighting and keep struggling, but with peace. demonstration.

don't kill. if they kill you, you go to god. if you stay alive, maybe very gaza will win. and a coat that is mahmoud salah speaking to us from chicago. he is 86 years old. he was forced out of his village with his family and his ago, a nakbayears survivor. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. ,ur guest is tareq baconi author of the book "hamas contained: the rise & pacification of palestinian resistance." juan: i want to ask you in a few minutes we have left in terms of what could potentially who might be able to hold israel responsible for this latest carnage that has been occurring now for weeks, really, and what under international law might be possible in terms of international community

demanding accountability? >> i think it is really important in the context of everything we have seen today hammad andf and mu others, the strip is not a separate board or entity that is bordering israel. gaza is under occupation. it continues to be under israel's military control. the population registry. it controls all entry and exit of goods, of people. it even controls the number of calories that go into the gaza strip to avoid mass starvation. what that means is this idea of filtration is -- infiltration is misrepresenting the reality on the ground. note people are infiltrating. they're under occupation. israel has the responsibility under international law to protect civilians under its occupation. instead of that, we see israel

presenting gazans as people looking to storm into israel and isak this border, which false. the palestinians have a number of options in front of them. they are able to take this to international courts. the efforts by the international -- by the palestinian leaders to up dish leadership international criminal court has because ofsuspended the believe in the peace process, because under president obama they were asked to stop taking measures to the criminal court because they were promised a peaceful outcome. there is clearly know believe anymore and the possibility of a peace process, certainly not the absence of that, palestinians have to push forward on international measures with the international community and break away from america's hold on this idea of initiation's come of mediating

between the parties. amy: as we wrap up the show, the final figures -- we have been talking about 61 people killed in one day come the deadliest day of the palestinian protests, is really military killing them, gassing them yesterday in gaza. at the total figure since march 30, the six weeks of protests? >> over the past six weeks, we had around 109 people who have been killed. the vast majority of them were unarmed civilians. and more than 12,000 injured. theerday was worse than combined six weeks leading up to yesterday. this is the biggest killing since 2014 when israel launched its largest military missiles, killing 2500 people. amy: tareq baconi, thank you for being with us. his book "hamas contained: the , rise & pacification of palestinian resistance." that does it for our show.

that does it for our show.

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