About 25 people were assembled in front of Fredericton City Hall last Saturday to demonstrate against Israeli attacks on Gaza, and to remember the day on its first anniversary.
“We are here because we share outrage, grief and frustration,” said Tracy Glynn, an organizer of the event.
She said it is important to remember the attacks on Gaza and act in solidarity.
“We want justice and to raise awareness about what happened,” she said. “There is so much information about inaccurate information out there.”
Israel’s 23-day assault on Gaza killed about 1,400 people. Israel said the aim of the war was to stop the Palestinian group Hamas from launching rockets into Israel’s south.
Yet, according to the UN Fact Finding Mission report from September 2009, Israel mainly targeted civilians and public facilities, leaving 50,000 people homeless and 400,000 without running water.
Glynn said they also gathered to call attention to the suffering in Gaza.
“Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza were made homeless by last year’s military assault,” she said. “Cold weather and flash floods this month have worsened their plight.”
There were about 25 people at the event this year, compared to 200, the turnout of the last year’s event.
NDP member Julie Michaud said most Canadians see the situation in Palestine as removed from their world at home.
“We need to recognize our own faults and we need to recognize the faults of others,” Michaud said.
Naveed Majid, a spokesperson of the Fredericton Islamic Association, said the public needs to be reminded of events like the attacks on Gaza.
“People care. You can tell after the Tsunamis and what happened in Haiti. People are generally committed to help,” he said. “But those are natural disasters. What happened in 2009 was a tragedy brought unto humans by other humans.”
Glynn sees it differently. She said it is not the attention from the public they lack, it is the action from the government.
“We feel that more people are aware of what is happening in Gaza,” she said. “We must demand Canada take responsibility and call on Israel and Egypt to open their borders for humanitarian relief … We must demand an end to the occupation of the Palestine.”
Majid agrees that the government needs take an action to make the situation better.
“There were supposed to be a bilateral agreement between Israel and Palestine not to fire on each other and that was broken,” he said. “The Canadian government needs to be fair and not just take side for the Israelis.”
Majid added that media is partly to blame for the event not receiving enough attention.
“The main media ignores catastrophes like this. People don’t care if they don’t get the information,” he said. “These demonstrations are often the only way to talk to the public.”
But these are only part of the suffering Palestinians are facing. Majid said even other Muslim countries like Egypt are part of the tragedy and won’t step in to help.
“Essentially, this is not about Jews and Muslims,” he said. “This is about justice for people.”
