Children’s Rally: Remember the Children of Palestine

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Monday April 19, 2010 15:40 by Freda H - IPSC

Children’s Rally: Remember the Children of Palestine -The Spire, OConnell Street, Dublin 1
Saturday, 8th May 2010, 1pm - (as part of Nakba Week, May 8th-15th)

Children’s Rally: Remember the Children of Palestine 8th May 1pm

During international armed conflicts, children are afforded protection under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), including the Geneva Convention. Children are also protected under international human rights law and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). IHL provides general protection for children as persons taking no part in hostilities and special protection as persons who are especially vulnerable during war and armed conflict.

During Christmas 2008 (Dec 08-Jan09), we all watched in horror the deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza in which 1,415 Palestinians were killed (including 318 children) and over 5,000 injured. On average, 13 children were killed each day of the offensive.

The 6th January 2009 witnessed the highest number of child deaths – 8 children were killed in the attack near al-Fakhoura School in Jabalya refugee camp and dozens of civilians (including many children) were killed in the military operations inside the Tal al Hawa neighbourhood in the south of Gaza city.

Since then, because of the illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, the 1.5 million people of Gaza have been unable to rebuild their lives. No homes or schools have been rebuilt. Most children have no textbooks or school supplies. The water and sewage systems have not been repaired. People are still dying for lack of medical care.

The abuse of children by the Israeli state is not confined to Gaza. Since the beginning of this year (2010) 2 minors have been shot dead in the West Bank, many many more have been unlawfully interned in Israeli prisons. The Shabak (israeli "internal security" force) regularly use children as pawns when interogating Palestinian men and women. Children are terrorised at night by regular Israeli military raids and arrests.

This demonstration is part of a series of IPSC events to commemorate the Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine which led to the establishment of the exclusivist state of Israel. In 1948 over 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, civilians were massacred & hundreds of Palestinian villages deliberately destroyed, this expulsion continues today. We can't stop yesterday's atrocities; we must prevent today's.

Please join us on 8th May 2010 at 1pm at at the Spire on O'Connell Street to remember the children of Palestine who were killed and injured since the Nakba began in 1948. We will symbolically lay childrens shoes and ask people to chalk the names of the villages displaced during the Nakba on the ground. This demonstration will be fully stewarded and we ask that all children under 16 are chaperoned by a responsible adult.

We call for justice for the men, women and especially the children of Palestine.