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In the Gaza Strip, preparations are underway for a massive anti-Israel rally scheduled next Friday along the border fence with Israel, the first to involve all Palestinian factions, including the Islamic Hamas movement.
The "Great March of Return," which will last until May 15, coincides with Israel's Independence Day and the Palestinian Day of "the Nakba," or the catastrophe.
It is organized by a joint Palestinian committee, which comprises Palestinian political factions, rights groups, youth and public sectors and organizations.
In preparations for the march, a number of tents were erected hundreds of meters away from the fence to embrace large crowds.
Organizers said the main goal of the march is to remind the world of the Palestinian refugees' right to return home they were forced to leave in 1948, as well as defying a tight Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the coastal enclave since 2007, when Hamas had violently seized control of Gaza after routing forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli military vehicles block a road near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip,
The blockade has pushed Gaza's population deeper into poverty with a surging unprecedented unemployment rate.
So far, organizers have built up little mounds of sands before the tents in six major areas from southern to northern Gaza Strip, just 700 meters away from the fence, as a protection for the participants from any Israeli army gunfire.
Gaza's two million residents have been urged to take part in Gaza's largest ever anti-Israel peaceful rally.
Friday, the day when the rally kicks off, coincides with the Palestinian "Land Day", an annual occasion marked by the Palestinians since 1976 to protest against the Israeli confiscation of Palestinian lands.
"The march of return aims to emphasize adherence to Palestinian rights, with right to return as their priority," Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh said.
Batsh explained that specialized committees formed by the factions and civil society organizations will work to ensure the success of the march and its objectives.
On the official Facebook page of the rally, organizers said the march is going to be a massive peaceful event that will be observed in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
Mohammed Faraj al-Ghoul, head of the legal committee in the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that the rally is a legal tool for Palestinians to obtain their right of return.
He added that the march represents a popular Palestinian response to "the U.S. so-called deal of the century" and Washington's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
"It is a practical move to confront the attempts to eliminate the Palestinian cause," he stressed.
U.S. President Donald Trump is racing against time to firm up his initiative, publicly known as the deal of the century, which aims at ending the prolonged Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
However, Trump's plan is not welcomed by the Palestinian Authority, which rejected the plan after the U.S. president recognized the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December last year.
Palestinians now seek an international multilateral mechanism to overlook the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, once sponsored by the United States and stalled since 2014.
On the other hand, Palestinian observers have raised concerns over a military escalation in Gaza once the rally is violently targeted by Israel.
Adnan Abu Amer, a Gaza-based political observer, warned that the issue of the march of return occupied in recent days the headlines of Israeli news.
"The Israeli press published the positions of Israeli army generals regarding the situation in Gaza as some called for a military strike against Hamas, while others preferred providing practical solutions to the humanitarian crisis in the territory," he said.
The expert explained that Israeli estimations highlight the possibility that Palestinian demonstrators will approach the Israeli crossings with Gaza, which may lead Israeli army snipers to fire at them, causing a large number of victims.
"Thus, Palestinian factions will fire missiles on Israel in response, which may cause a new military confrontation," he pointed out.
In the past 10 years, Israel and Hamas movement have been engaged in three major wars that claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis.
Days before the rally, Hamas armed wing, Qassam Brigades, staged large defensive drills in Gaza.
Hundreds of Qassam militants, carrying light machine guns, were deployed on main streets over the past two days across the Gaza Strip.
Explosions were heard in different parts of the coastal enclave, while tank-like military vehicles were also observed, in addition to firing a number of missiles into the sea.
The return rally comes amid deep stalemate in the process of national Palestinian reconciliation, with Hamas and Fatah rivals trading accusations over the deterioration of the Egyptian-mediated unity talks.
Akaram Attallah, a Palestinian political observer from Gaza, said neither negotiation, nor armed conflicts have resulted in any good outcomes for the Palestinian cause.
"The only remaining way for Palestinians to get their rights is holding such mass rallies," Atallah said.
He added that Israel has also prepared itself for the Palestinian protests as Israeli bulldozers set up sand mounds along the borders with Gaza, pointing out that Israeli drones equipped with tear gas will be used to disperse protestors.
"What is really important is to keep these rallies peaceful," he said.
Related:
Israel deploys 100 sharpshooters on Gaza border for Palestinian protests
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
