Articles
Waging Peace, Page 47
Gazan Victims Remembered One Year Later At Israeli L.A. Consulate
THE DOWNTRODDEN people of Gaza would have taken heart Dec. 28 if they could have seen more than 250 Americans braving the cold in front of the Los Angeles Israeli Consulate to commemorate Israel’s merciless 22-day assault on the people of Gaza last winter.
The candlelight vigil was dignified, as the people bore silent witness to the horror Gazans experienced as Israel’s high-tech weaponry blitzed them back to the Stone Age from Dec. 27, 2008 to Jan. 18, 2009. What’s more, observed Shakeel Syed, Israels’ ongoing blockade has prevented Gazans from rebuilding their homes and infrastructure. This, he said, is a war crime. “Arab governments should be ashamed,” Syed continued. “The Israeli nation should be put on notice that its oppression of the Palestinian people will never be forgotten—not for 60 years or for 600 years.”
He then read his poem which closed with the words:
Church—loudly still
Mosque—silently screaming
Synagogue—peacefully afraid
God-All-Mighty, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing,
We are abhorred when alive and harvested when dead!
The Rev. Wilfredo Benitez of St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Garden Grove opened the vigil with a prayer. He remarked that the Israeli assault on the people of Gaza is reminiscent of the Nazi obliteration of the Warsaw Ghetto, and that Israel’s actions stain the memory of the Warsaw victims.
Many Christian clerics were in the throng. When Rabbi Leonard Beerman began to speak, the couple of dozen pro-Israel demonstrators across Wilshire Boulevard blared a horn to drown out the rabbi’s comments.
A stirring video of the vigil by Steve Wright can be viewed at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya30Ecs64_g>.
More than 20 organizations sponsored the event, including Women In Black/Los Angeles, Middle East Fellowship/Los Angeles, L.A. Jews for Peace, and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.
—Samir Twair
