A delegation of Dream Defenders, Black Lives Matter, and Ferguson leaders has returned from a 10-day trip to Palestine, where they sought to forge connections with Palestinian activists.
"The goals were primarily to allow for the group members to experience and see firsthand the occupation, ethnic cleansing and brutality Israel has levied against Palestinians, but also to build real relationships with those on the ground leading the fight for liberation," Dream Defenders’ legal and policy director Ahmad Abuznaid told Ebony. "In the spirit of Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael and many others, we thought the connections between the African American leadership of the movement in the US and those on the ground in Palestine needed to be reestablished and fortified."
While on their trip, delegates met with black Palestinians, refugees, Palestinian activists, and those who’d been removed from their homes in East Jerusalem. The Institute for Middle East Understanding assisted in developing the delegation’s itinerary. During a stop in Nazareth, the delegation staged a solidarity demonstration.
We came here to Palestine to stand in love and revolutionary struggle with our brothers and sisters. We come to a land that has been stolen by greed and destroyed by hate. We come here and we learn laws that have been cosigned by ink but written in the blood of the innocent. And we stand next to people who continue to courageously struggle and resist the occupation. People who continue to dream and fight for freedom. From Ferguson to Palestine, the struggle for freedom continues.
For more photos, check out IMEU’s Flickr page.