On Saturday 30th December, Hannah Land, a member of the LDfPME Executive, addressed the Vigil for Peace organised by Bridgford Muslim Action Group. Here is what she said:
Thursday was the Feast of the Holy Innocents in the Christian calendar.
“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Words as relevant today as they were 2000 or more years ago. There are too many losses of innocent lives. Collateral damage as some news reporters call them.
I’m here today representing the Lib Dem organisations, Lib Dem Friends of Palestine, and Lib Dem for Peace in the Middle East. We seek the organisations and individuals working for peace and reconciliation in Israel and Palestine.
Neither the Netanyahu Government nor Hamas care about the people of Gaza, both are using the war for their power games. Hamas to replace the Palestinian Authority & Fatah as the leading force in Occupied Palestine, Netanyahu’s Government to stay in office.
We Need an International response to get both Hamas & IDF to accept a ceasefire & to withdraw from Gaza. There’s a desperate need to provide the immediate humanitarian aid and to commit to long term rebuilding of Gaza with the Palestinian Authority. That authority should replace Hamas as the civil power & providing security.
Too many in both Palestine & Israel have been killed and will be killed in the future unless both sides accept the need to be prepared to compromise. There will be no security for Israel until Palestinians are a free people in their own homeland. Palestine will not be freed by violence nor will Israel find security through occupation & oppression. We need to help both sides start negotiations to bring freedom to Palestine & security to Israel.
There have been many terrible injustices committed by and to both sides over the 100 years of the conflict but the biggest injustice Is to the future generations if we do not find a way to stop the killing. If we don’t work to support the people of peace in both Palestine & Israel, then the scenes we have witnessed in both Gaza & in Israel will be repeated.