End The Siege on Gaza!
On Saturday the 24th November, I attended a demo with other people of all ages, races and origins who had turned out in their thousands in London to stand in solidarity with Palestine. The march, which began outside Downing Street at mid-day, came to an end a few miles later outside the Israeli Embassy. A rally then ensued with speakers such as Ahdaf Soueif, the Egyptian novelist and political commentator, Andy Slaughter, the British Labour Party politician and Ambassador Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian territory diplomat.
The protest, which was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign but also supported by many affiliate groups, called for an end to the siege in Gaza and for the freedom of the Palestinian people. Organisers claim at least 15,000 people turned up to show their support and to tell the British Government that the time to stop supporting terrorism is now.
The most recent spate of violence between Israel and Gaza lasted eight days and resulted in the loss of 160 Palestinians, at least 40 of which were children. A further 1,200 people were injured. Although a ceasefire was agreed upon after intervention from the UK, the US and the Egyptian authorities, the siege and political control over the Palestinians by the Israelis still exists.
Throughout the day and despite the poor weather conditions, we stayed on the streets chanting, “Free Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Placards carried by the majority depicted Israel as a terrorist state and showed unwavering support for the Palestinians with slogans such as “Stop Israel State Terrorism” and We Will Not Forget You Gaza”.
The occupation and siege of Gaza has been ongoing for more than six decades now at the cost of countless lives. Many protesters expressed their anger towards the British government in their handling of the conflict, especially the media portrayal of events. The attacks were heavily reported in the press although it seemed as though the media was trying to insinuate that the Israeli attack on Gaza was on of self defence and not all and out terrorism.
The Stop the War Coalition, who helped organise the event said they wanted to let everyone know that the British government gave “the green light” to Israel’s crimes and that they do not have the popular support of the general public. They stated that the next step in the fight for Palestinian freedom would be a boycott of all Israeli goods.
There has been no siege on Gaza for six decades. The siege you are referring to has been four years post Cast Lead due to the smuggling of rockets and missiles fired against Israeli civilians. Hamas keep their OWN people under siege by denying them their inalienable rights and using them as human shields. Israel continues to send in humanitarian aid and treat Gazans in Israeli hospitals. Sadly this posr is one sided. Perhaps you should speak to us Israelis who had to live in our shelters.
A sentence fragment from an article I read online first thing the other morning;
“…the death toll stands at 139 Palestinians and five Israelis…”
What a lovely way to start the day, yes? And that single phrase essentially tells the story of the israel/palestine debacle.
Nearly 30 times more fatalities among palestinians.
The palestinians are refugees, trapped in the world’s largest concentration camp, with no military worth mentioning.
They are being slaughtered at will by the american-supported, high-tech israeli killing machine, armed with a nuclear arsenal and ranked tenth in global firepower.
Yet palestine, which is so militarily insignificant it has no ranking at all, is the terrorist aggressor, whilst israel is the hapless, helpless victim, acting only in self-defense.
One wonders why israel, an advanced nation with access to cutting edge technology, is unable to find and destroy a bunch of primitive rockets before they can be used or, better still, prevent them from being delivered in the first place.
They seem to have no difficulty in preventing any form of humanitarian aide from reaching Gaza.
The answer is a simple one; they don’t want to.
It would eliminate the pretext of self-defense. The ostensible israeli government has no problem with sacrificing a few of their own civilian population as long as it enables them to commit genocide upon the palestinians.
The David and Goliath myth comes to mind. And israel certainly does not qualify as David.
There is no excuse for genocide under any circumstances. The extremist zionist government of israel, with the willing assistance of neofascist america, is guilty of attempting to completely exterminate their own cousins.
Both israel and america are guilty of crimes against humanity, at the very least.
I was born and live in america but I refuse to be identified as an american. Patriotism and nationalism, not to mention religion, are diseases that will prove fatal to the human species if we do not find a way to cure ourselves of them.
It is not a zero-sum game. Here in Israel, we have bomb shelters in our homes and buildings, sirens and alarms that warn us to take cover and in times of conflict close our schools. Strangers open their homes to people who need to flee areas of vulnerability. Unlike Hamas who fire and store weapons amongst their civilian population. I think therein lies the dilemma..perhaps Israel places a “disproportionate” amount of protection on her citizens. As someone who lives in a city in range of Fajr 5 missiles and had to run for cover numerous times, I am grateful.
It is Hamas who are the terrorists, not the israelis!
“the attacks were heavily reported in the press although it seemed as though the media was trying to insinuate that the Israeli attack on Gaza was on of self defence and not all and out terrorism.”
Are you saying that palestinian rockets weren’t launched into Israel first, starting off this latest round of violence? With responsibility claimed by Hamas? Any of that?
I’m not naive enough not to think that some of the western news is tainted by the government, but who launched the rockets first is a big one. I haven’t heard Hamas say that they were blindsided. I did hear Israel say so, and didn’t hear a challenge back.
Just more rockets and more dead kids. I pray for their peace.
Hope Palestine is free soon.
I agree with you, Rolenemarks. I think Israel keeps it’s nose clean and hands to itself when not provoked. If a bully kept punching you in the nose, you’d fight back too.
I have only one issue with this article. The use of the term “races”.
There are no separate races within the species Homo sapiens. There is only one race; the human race.
If we do not soon begin living accordingly, that single race will simply cease to exist. There are no exemptions from the laws of nature for any species, regardless of its hubristic proclamations of superiority.
Any species that cannot, or as in our case will not, adapt will be rewarded with extinction.
The creatures we named dinosaurs dominated Life on Earth for over 200 million years before being destroyed by forces beyond their comprehension. Not their fault. Could happen to any species.
After a paltry 200 thousand years, modern man teeters on the brink of extinction as a result of its own arrogant recklessness.
We are a global family, community, tribe, clan. Whatever descriptor you pick, we are all fundamentally bound together. It’s time to recognise this fact as an asset to be utilised for the benefit of all.
As long as we are tricked by the few into focusing on our petty, superficial differences, those parasites will continue to drain the Life from Earth until they consume everything, even themselves.
Well said.
Did you ever notice how the media always focuses on Palestinian children? Are there no Israeli children affected by Palestinian rockets? Of course, there are, but rarely do we get that side of the picture.
I have a feeling freeing Gaza would solve nothing, personally. The hostility would continue…
1,477 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis and 129 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians since September 29, 2000.
Perhaps the Ministry of Propaganda, which you refer to as “the media” doesn’t talk much about the israeli children because they don’t want to make people aware of the facts.
The radical zionist government of israel doesn’t mind sacrificing a few of its own people as long doing so helps to enable the continued genocide of the palestinians; not unlike the neofascist american government that was perfectly content to sacrifice a few thousand americans to get the wars in the middle east started.
Like freeing the Slaves in 1863 America didn’t end slavery? Like killing the Nazi’s didn’t end anti-semitism? Like tearing down the Berlin Wall didn’t end Communism? Are you advocating that those actions should not have been pursued because they were not immediately and totally successful?
While the hostility, racism, religious intolerance and oppression may not end with a single act, that does not make the act meaningless or void of worth.
A journey of a thousand years still begins with the first step…
I’m not taking sides, but when the body count is 139 to 5 it isn’t surprising that there aren’t a lot of pics of dead Israeli kids.
Thanks for the statistics! It does help to explain the coverage a little, though I still agree that is seems biased toward supporting the Palestinians’ cause. I’m not really sure where I stand on the issue myself. I support the existence of Israel as a country and I doubt Palestine would be satisfied once it gained independence in Gaza…
Muslims, Christians and Jews once lived in peace in Palestine not too long ago before it became Israel and may it be that way again one day.
I agree and share your wish.