Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group marked the first anniversary of Israel's attacks on the people of Gaza, last year, by publicly reading the names of 313 of the hundreds of Palestinian children who were killed during the Israeli assaults on Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009. Peace Group members gathered in the walkway above the bus station on Saturday morning (16 January 2010) to remind people of the deaths of 1400 Palestinian civilians and 4 Israeli civilians killed during operation 'Cast Iron', and of the ongoing siege of Gaza. .
They asked people to sign a petition calling on the government to exert international pressure to implement the recommendations of the Goldstone Report, which include investigation of war crimes committed during the three week assault by the Israelis and an immediate end to the inhumane siege of Gaza.
Their placard read, "GAZA: Remember The Children Killed. Prosecute War Criminals".
Amongst the many local people supporting the petition was Dr Farrukh Zia. Dr Zia works at the Accident and Emergency Unit at Rochdale Infirmary. In November 2009, he was a member of the Rochdale based Health Aid UK medical team which visited the Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories and hopes to be speaking about his experiences at a public meeting in Rochdale in the near future.
Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group said,
"Twelve months ago, Israel waged an indiscriminate land and aerial assault on the civilian population of Gaza. This included the illegal use of white phosphorus bombs in built-up areas. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in three weeks, including many hundreds of children. Since then, Israel's continuing siege of Gaza has left its trapped population with severely restricted access to food, medical supplies and clean drinking water. Dr Zia told us that doctors are prevented from entering Gaza to help people there. The people there, are also being denied steel and concrete. Thry are unable to rebuild their homes or to repair their devastated infrastructure. In September, Justice Goldstone’s report to the United Nations concluded that serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during its military operations in Gaza. Justice Goldstone found that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, during the so-called operation 'Cast Iron'. However, after almost four months, we are still waiting for anyone to take any effective action in response to Justice Goldstone’s recommendations."
For the names of the Palestinian children killed in Israel's attack on Gaza, see http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/Reports/English/pdf_spec/War%20Crimes%20Against%20Children%20Book.pdf
For more information on the Goldstone Report, see http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm
For more information on Health Aid UK, see http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/news/s/1116880_mercy_team_on_special_mission
