THE VIOLENCE in Gaza continued to be a focus of protest and prayer in Ireland, with demands for an immediate ceasefire accompanied by calls for the international community to exert more pressure on Israel to stop its bombardment of the Palestinian territory. Celebrating a Mass to mark the World Day of Peace, the Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev Diarmuid Martin, devoted a section of his homily to the crisis.
“Hearing the word peace, our thoughts and concerns, our apprehension and indeed our anger must today go in the first place to the Holy Land,” Dr Martin told worshippers at Church of the Assumption, in Booterstown, Co Dublin.
“We join with the prayers of people all around the world in the hope of an immediate ceasefire and of a renewed commitment by all parties, in the entire region and beyond, to create a climate of peace.
“How is it that with all our developments in humanity in our times, there are still attempts to think that peace can be achieved by violence and force of arms?
“How is it that weapons are poured in unlimited supply into a situation already tense, while at the same time ordinary men and women in the same villages and towns cannot receive the aid necessary for their survival?”
Protesters gathered in front of the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street to call for an end to Israel’s military strikes on Gaza.
Among the demonstrators were representatives from the Palestinian and Muslim communities in Ireland, along with members of the Irish Anti-War Movement.
The protesters called on the Irish Government to suspend diplomatic relations with Israel and expel Israeli ambassador Zion Evrony.
Labour Party president and spokesman on foreign affairs Michael D Higgins deplored the loss of life and destruction in Gaza, saying that it was “totally indefensible . . . and clearly in breach of international humanitarian law”.
Israel’s actions, he said, “clearly exceed even the most basic principles of proportional defence” and deserve condemnation by the international community.
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(Source: IT)