In response to a call by Abna'a el-Balad, Tajammu' (the Democratic National Assembly) and the Islamic Movement, thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Court of the Eye of the Virgin Mary in the city of Nazareth, where the march began, before proceeding down Paul VI street. The demonstration demanded the immediate breaking of the siege on Gaza and called for national unity between all Palestinians, in Palestine and in exile. The demonstrators chanted, praising the Palestinian resistance before concluding with a rally.
Comrade Rawia Shanti, member of the Political Bureau of Abna'a el-Balad, spoke at the rally, stressing on the continuation of resistance until victory and the establishment of the Palestinian state on the entire land of Palestine. Comrade Shanti said, "Our people in Gaza are under siege, which is a part of the siege that is being imposed on the Palestinian people in their entirety. Our people in the occupied homeland since 1948 are also under siege. Thirty martyrs have fallen since October 2000 and more than 150 of our activists and leaders are in the Israeli prisons." She accused Israeli leaders and generals of being war criminals, and called for Palestinian national unity to uphold Palestinian national constants, particularly the right to return and self-determination.
Sheikh Raed Salah, of the Islamic Movement, called upon Abu Mazen and Ismail Haniyeh to establish national unity government to confront the U.S. terrorism and Israeli occupation and to confront the pressure imposed upon our people. Sheikh Salah said, "Every so-called 'agreement' that prevents us from reaching to Al-Aqsa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we will put it under our foot and crush it." Sheikh Salah directed a statement to the U.S. government, "You cannot force us to compromise by using the milk of our children as a weapon. We tell you that we will crush your U.S. dollars. We will not bow."
The General Secretary of the Democratic National Assembly, Awad Abdelfattah, in his speech, warned from the international conspiracy against the Palestinian people. He said that "the crime in Gaza is an American/Israeli-made crime. Its objective is to deepen the Palestinian internal division." He further called upon all Palestinian parties to return to the national dialogue without conditions. He said to them, "Have mercy on our people in exile and in Palestine." Abdelfattah questioned the Palestinian leadership, "How can you sit with the Israelis and you cannot have a dialogue with your brothers?" He ended his remarks with "Death to occupation" and "Break the siege on Gaza immediately."
Other speeches were delivered in the rally by representatives of various Palestinian organizations, particularly from the Popular Committee to End the Siege on Gaza, who distributed a statement calling for an immediate end of the siege and calling for support and solidarity for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
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