Boycott Israel March in Cork.

cork | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Monday May 25, 2009 21:31 by Joe Moore - Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign mapuche at eircom dot net 087-2994796

A protest in support of the Boycott Israel Campaign will take place on Saturday 30th May at 1.00pm in Daunt's Square, Cork.

Israel has reduced Gaza to a wasteland. It has killed over 1,300 people, around a third of them children. Thousands more have been left injured, homeless and traumatised. The UN has described Gaza as a site of "utter devastation."

The scale of the destruction in Gaza is staggering. Around 90,000 people have been forced out of their homes. People are living on the streets, among the rubble and decomposing bodies. For ordinary Gazans their biggest challenge is burying their dead, finding somewhere to live and getting enough food to survive the day. Thousands of people are suffering from malnutrition and one million, out of a population of 1.5 million, are dependent on aid just to survive.

Around a third of people have no access to running water and the supply is intermittent for the rest. There are not enough hospitals, equipment or workers to help the injured and medics are constantly battling with power shortages.

Responsibility for this humanitarian disaster lies firmly at the door of Israel.

The world wide explosion of anger against Israel and support for the Palestinians represents a step change in the development of an international solidarity movement. As shown by the full-page notice in the Irish Times on 31 January, Ireland's part in this movement could begin to compare with our part in the movement that fought against apartheid in South Africa. Part of that campaign was the boycott of South African products. A similar campaign is now being launched against Israeli products.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign calls on all its members and supporters in the Cork area to join our protest on Saturday 30 May at 1.00pm in Daunt's Square.