Limerick Vigil for Gaza

limerick | anti-war / imperialism | news report Sunday January 11, 2009 00:30 by Zoe Lawlor - Limerick branch Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Vigil in Solidarity with the People of Gaza

As the slaughter in Gaza continues, as Gaza burns and Israel continues to murder with impunity, there was a vigil in Limerick today to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The Mayor of Limerick, John Gilligan lit a peace lantern from Palestine and made a speech condemning the massacres carried out in Gaza by Israel as well as the occupation of Palestine. IPSC speakers called for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador, the recall of the Irish Ambassador in Tel Aviv and for Minister Micheal Martin to suspend diplomatic relations with the rogue Israeli state until Israel ceases its criminal and murderous campaign in Gaza. They also called for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to insist in the EU Council of Ministers on the suspension of the EU trade agreement with Israel under Clause 2 of that Agreement and for a full boycott of Israeli products in Ireland.
About 150 people came along to express their solidarity with the people of Gaza. Also in attendance were Jan O'Sullivan Labour TD and Minister of Defence Willie O'Dea.
A poem by Mahmoud Darwish was read at the vigil.

I Come From There
by Mahmoud Darwish

I come from there and I have memories
Born as mortals are, I have a mother
And a house with many windows,
I have brothers, friends,
And a prison cell with a cold window.
Mine is the wave, snatched by sea-gulls,
I have my own view,
And an extra blade of grass.
Mine is the moon at the far edge of the words,
And the bounty of birds,
And the immortal olive tree.
I walked this land before the swords
Turned its living body into a laden table.

I come from there. I render the sky unto her mother
When the sky weeps for her mother.
And I weep to make myself known
To a returning cloud.
I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood
So that I could break the rule.
I learnt all the words and broke them up
To make a single word: Homeland.....