August 12th Belfast Demo

Call to end Israeli Aggression

On Saturday 12th August in Belfast approximately 300 people marched through the crowded city centre to City Hall demonstrating against Israeli aggression in both Lebanon and Gaza. The demand was for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the carnage and an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The demonstration, which was organised in response to the call from the British-based 'Stop the War Coalition', was supported by ICTU, by Belfast Trades Council and by various other unions and organisations including the Belfast Anti-War Movement, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Anti-Racist Network, Sinn Fein, the Socialist Workers' Party and others. It is the first trade-union sponsored demonstration to take place in Ireland since the Israeli reinvasion of Lebanon.

In front of City Hall, the ICTU organiser made an initial call for a minutes' silence for those killed in the conflict. Then those taking part heard impassioned speeches from five speakers. First up a member of Belfast Trades Council condemned the US created delay in getting a UN Resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire; then Sue Pentel, a Jewish member of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, reminded the crowd that Israeli aggression against Gaza still continues. She outlined Jewish opposition internationally to Israeli Government policy, described how a number of Jews had formally renounced their automatic right to Israeli citizenship in protest at the dispossession of the Palestinians and called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the State of Israel - in particular the suspension of the 'Euro-Mediterranean Agreement' under which Israel enjoys privileged trading arrangements with the European Union. Omar Faroukhi, a Palestinian refugee, driven out in 1948 and resident in Belfast outlined the deceits being fed to the public to justify Israeli expansion in the Middle East. He declared that the continuing injustice against the Palestinians was a fundamental cause of anti-western feeling in the Middle East. 'Solve the Palestinian question and peace will return'! Sara Boyce of the Anti-Racist Network described how racist ideas were integral to the Israeli and US project of controlling the peoples of the Middle East. Finally, to much acclaim, Goretti Horgan, one of those who on Thursday had raided the Derry offices of Raytheon, who supplies Israel with bombing components, passed humorous observations on their subsequent arrest. She called for support for those facing prosecution - a support which will certainly be forthcoming!