Episode #4 Nuriya Oswald (Al Mezan) on the Great March of Return in Gaza

Welcome to this new episode of EuroMed Standing Watch, the podcast series by EuroMed Rights. Each month, we give the floor to activists and human rights advocates around the Euro-Mediterranean region. They share their daily experiences and challenges. 

Today, we are going straight to Gaza in Palestine, to talk about the Great March of Return. This series of demonstrations were organised between 30 March 2018 and December 2019. They aimed at demanding an end to the Israeli blockade, and the right of return, for Palestinian refugees. 

But while these demonstrations were largely peaceful, the Israeli army used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition against the protesters. Hundreds of people were killed, and thousands injured, including journalists, and medics. As on the 28 March we celebrated the third year of the Marches, we decided to meet Nuriya Oswald. She is the International Legal & Advocacy Director of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights studies. In this episode, Nuriya highlights the need to hold accountable those who committed these crimes. And she begins by recalling the basics of the Great March of Return.