‘Stop the War!’ Cries Demonstrators

Saturday 10th January saw Lancaster city centre give its opinions on the current ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The recent conflict began on the 27th December 2008, and since more than 800 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians along with 13 Israelis as the hostilities enter into their third week. Of those who have died it is believed that more than 250 were children with more than 3250 individuals suffering injuries of various degrees. An Israeli attack has killed at least 43 people taking refuge in a UN school. In the Zeitoun district, at least 30 people were killed after Israeli troops repeatedly shelled a house to which more than 100 Palestinians had been evacuated by the Israeli military. One medic treating the wounded from the attacks has commented that out of around 800 individuals he had seen, only 2 were Hamas fighters.

The demonstration was organised by the Lancaster Friends of Palestine, with support from the Quakers, and the ‘Stop the War Society’ from campus, with attendance at over 60 people, all voicing concern over the conflict and the loss of civilian life. Representatives of Amnesty International (Lancaster Branch) commented that they were disgusted with the ‘horrendous use of force by Israel in one of the most densely populated areas in the world,’ and that a continuation of the conflict would only succeed in creating ‘greater levels of anti-Israel feeling’ making any notion of peace in the Middle East ever harder to attain. With regards the demonstration they commented that they were glad to see that it had brought a lot of different groups together which shows a great desire within the community for the conflict to end.
Whilst one does not ignore the complicated issues within the Middle East, it would seem clear that a continuation of the ‘eye for an eye’ mentality that we can currently see will only succeed in making everyone blind.