Igår kallade Gush Shalom till en demonstration i Tel Aviv i protest mot Israels belägring av Gaza. Då jag liksom så många andra känner en förtvivlan över vad som pågår i Gaza beslutade jag mig för att åka till Tel Aviv för att delta. Vi var ett hundratal som samlades utanför försvarsministeriets byggnad med banderoller och ljus som en protest mot mörkret i Gaza. Ljusen symboliserade också ett hopp för framtiden – ett hopp om en dialog mellan Israel och palestinierna vilket är det enda som kan ge fred i Mellanöstern.

Demonstrationen uppmärksammades av TV och annan media.

Även alla de som deltog i ett möte i Tel Aviv för stöd till Israel och som hade sina kvällsaktiviteter på försvarsministeriets område kunde inte undgå demonstranterans budskap.

Paroller:
Stoppas dödandet – återvänd till vapenvilan
Sätt på ljuset i Gaza – nej till kollektiv bestraffning
Belägringen av Gaza är en fortsättning på ockupationen – den måste upphöra

Yvonne Fredriksson

Flygblad för manifestationen
Stop the killings – return to the ceasefire!
Turn on the lights in Gaza – no to collective punishment!
The siege of Gaza is a continuation of the occupation – it must end!

Protest vigil opposite the Defense Ministry gates:
Tuesday Nov 18, at 18.00
Kaplan St., Tel Aviv (opposite the ministry’s David Gate)

The ceasefire on the Gaza Strip border has lasted five months and provided a measure of calm to the suffering inhabitants; this ceasefire was violated with a provocative invasion of the Strip’s territory and the killing of six Palestinians, on the night of November 4, while the world’s attention was focused on the historic US presidential elections. The government of Israel flagrantly violated the ceasefire, with its own hands bringing salvos of Quassam missiles upon the heads of the inhabitants of Sderot, Ashkelon and the Western Negev.

During the past two weeks, whenever a chance arises for resuming the calm and ceasefire, the government hastily authorizes the army to carry out additional ”liquidations” of Palestinians, which inevitably provoke a further shooting of missiles and a further escalation of the situation. When Ismail Haniya, Palestinian Prime Minister on behalf of Hamas, declared his willingness to accept Israel in its pre-1967 borders, there was no reaction of any kind from official Israel. Instead, there is a veritable chorus of demagogues of all kinds, calling for an intensification of the Gaza fire and seeking to transform it into a full-scale war.

On top of all that, since the morning of last Thursday the government of Israel refuses to allow industrial oil, needed for running the Gaza Strip’s sole power station, to be passed through the border crossings. The majority of the Gaza Strip’s population suffers, due to that, power cuts lasting 16 hours per day. The government also prevents the passing of cooking gas, foodstuffs and additional vital goods. The continuation of collective punishments can cause the final collapse of health, education and welfare in the Gaza Strip.

Tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 18, at 18.00, we will stand opposite the David Gate at the entrance to the Ministry of Defense and light candles and torches, as a protest against the darkness which the government’s policy of occupation, suffocation and ”liquidation” bring upon the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million people, upon the inhabitants of Sderot and Ashkelon and the entire population of Israel, and upon the entire region. The lights we will light are also a sign of hope – the hope that dialogue with all representatives of the Palestinian People can secure a true, well-founded calm and facilitate the reaching of peace and security for all inhabitants of the region.