Demonstrations and political and societal movement .. Yemenis forget their problems and stand in solidarity with Palestine

The war succeeded in dividing the Yemenis, deepening differences between them, and creating very bad humanitarian conditions, but it did not forget the Palestinian cause and the suffering of the Palestinians in their fateful war with the occupation.

The recent Israeli aggression on Gaza and Jerusalem and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood angered the Yemenis, who condemned what they described as “crimes against the Palestinian people.” Read also In support of Palestine and condemning the occupation .. Solidarity demonstrations continue around the world In pictures, Tunisia’s students are in solidarity with the Palestinian people A European statement awaited the Security Council to hold a fourth session on Gaza despite Washington’s obstruction Algorithms or intentional racism? The secret behind Facebook’s restrictions on the supporters of the Palestinian cause

Despite the famine, the burning circles of fighting and the deterioration of living conditions, the Palestinian issue remained present in the priorities and concerns of the Yemenis.

The forms of interaction and solidarity with the Palestinian people varied between popular demonstrations, political statements, and widespread interest through social networking sites.

Thousands of Yemenis gathered yesterday, Monday, in the capital, Sanaa, and 13 other squares in different Yemeni cities under the control of the Houthi group, to support the Palestinian resistance and its steadfastness, according to the demonstrators.

The Bab al-Yaman area in Sana’a witnessed the largest crowd, as thousands of citizens gathered condemning the occupation’s crimes, and declaring their support for the Palestinian resistance.

In the demonstration, the leader of the “Ansar Allah” group, Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi, said that what is happening in Palestine dropped the deal of the century, considering that the sons of Palestine stand in the first trench defending the nation.

For his part, the representative of the Hamas movement in Yemen, Moaz Abu Shamala, said, “The gathered Yemeni crowds are a message to the enemy that it is impossible to isolate Al-Aqsa, and a message to the Palestinian people that makes them feel that they are not alone, and that the nation is with him and will do everything it can for the sake of Palestine.”

Ali al-Harawi – one of the participants in the march – says that his participation “comes as an expression of the Arab popular stance in support of the Palestinians and in support of his glorious resistance, which revealed the falsehood of the advocates of normalization, and confirmed the possibility of defeating Israel if the Arabs and Muslims united.”

Ahmed Al-Hamdani believes that the Palestinian issue is a principled issue for Yemenis and Arabs, and that his participation in the demonstration is to convey a message to the people and resistance in Palestine that they are not alone in this battle.

In the city of Taiz, a stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people was organized last Friday, in opposition to the occupation’s storming of Jerusalem, and to condemn what they called “Israel’s crimes.”

The demonstrators considered that the Palestinian resistance does not defend Palestine only, but also the nation’s honor and dignity, denouncing the stances of the “passive Arab regimes towards the central Arab cause.”

Political and trade union solidarity

This interaction was not limited to popular activities, but included the conflicting political parties and forces and trade unions that declared positions rejecting the aggression of the occupation, and supporting the Palestinian people until the restoration of their full rights.

The Ansar Allah group, the Islah Party, the Southern Transitional Council, and the Nasserite Organization issued Individual statements in support of Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian cause.

In the same context, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate condemned the Zionist aggression against Palestinian journalists, and the Palestinian people as a whole.

Social networking sites witnessed widespread solidarity with the Palestinian cause, through the widespread posts in support of the Palestinian struggle, and the change of personal photos to pictures of Al-Aqsa Al-Sharif and expressive images of solidarity.

A number of politicians, media professionals and activists have expressed their different positions on the Palestinian issue from multiple angles, despite their standing on contradictory fronts in the Yemeni conflict.

A member of the Political Council of the Ansar Allah Al-Houthi group, Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti, said in a tweet through his Twitter account that “Israel is powerless in the face of the Palestinians’ steadfastness from the military point of view, which prompted it to target the infrastructure to raise the cost of the steadfastness option.” Al-Bakhiti called on the people to “raise the cost of aggression by boycotting American goods.”

For his part, Abd al-Malik al-Mikhlafi, an advisor to the Yemeni president, said, “The Palestinian issue is the first and central issue of the Arabs, despite the poor Arab situation, the first criterion for human humanity and the presence of conscience in the world.”

Al-Mikhlafi added – in a tweet on Twitter – that “the Palestinian people’s resistance to the Zionist occupation remains the noblest phenomenon in modern Arab history.”

Just cause that goes beyond affiliations

Journalist Mona Safwan wrote – on her Facebook page – that the Palestinian issue is “the only issue that you can fully take sides with without ambiguity or doubt and you are assured of its justice and righteousness.”

The Yemeni painter Shihab al-Maqrami said – in a tweet – that “there is no fear for Gaza and its sacrifices, no matter how painful they are, expecting that they will return stronger than they were, while there are those who lose more despite their normalization and kneeling.”

Journalist Salah al-Din Hamzah stated that “Palestine is the homeland of every Muslim, and it has become part of our history and our heritage,” while journalist Mansour Al-Jaradi published a picture of a crowd of protesters in Sana’a, commenting on it, “Yemenis forget their affiliation with parties and sects when the issue is Palestine.”

Activist Adel Dashila believes that despite their confrontation with the Houthi group, which he described as “racist”, this does not mean abandoning the central cause of Muslims.

Najm al-Din al-Kahlani – one of the activists loyal to the Houthi group – believes that “Yemen has more than rallied for Palestine despite the aggression, siege and oil derivatives crisis, and heartbreak continues to fill their hearts for not participating in the face-to-face fight of Israel.”

Political analyst Abdullah Hussam considers that the Palestinian issue is a fateful issue for the Yemenis, linked to their awareness, culture and Arab-Muslim identity. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Yemenis are interested in it despite their complex problems, the devastating woes of the war, and the bad humanitarian and economic situation.

Hussam added – in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net – that the Yemenis had previously fought in the ranks of the Palestinian resistance in 1948, and in the 1982 Lebanon War, because of the symbolism of the Palestine issue related to Arab dignity and identity.

He added that the interest of the Yemenis in the Palestinian cause is due to the fact that “the enemy is an invading occupier, and it targets the entire nation, and it has an arrogant expansion project that targets everyone.”

Hussam criticizes the employment of some forces in the Palestinian issue within the framework of the ongoing internal conflict in Yemen in order to gain the confidence and support of the masses and achieve political gains, calling on the conflicting forces to end the state of internal fighting, bring peace and unite sincere efforts to support Jerusalem.