brunswickannews
2 • Jan. 14, 2009 • Issue 16 • Volume 142
War in Gaza leaves mark in Canada Cameron Mitchell The Brunswickan
When Israel began its Dec. 27 assault on the Gaza Strip, the bombs hit pretty close to home for Fredericton resident Esam Ghanem. “I have a huge amount of family members in Gaza itself,” said Ghanem, who is originally from Palestine. “One uncle and a few aunts, and many many cousins . . . My one cousin drives an ambulance and every day we have to call to see if he’s been killed.” Ghanem was part of a six-person panel brought together last Tuesday at UNB, to express their solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinians. The speakers included Jack Gegenberg from the Fredericton Palestine Solidarity, Sue Goldstein of Women in Solidarity with Palestine, Tracy Glynn of STU and Fredericton Palestine Solidarity, Esam Ghanem a Palestinian Canadian, Viqar Husain of the Fredericton Palestine Society, and the Director of Native Studies at STU,
Doug Estey / The Brunswickan
Speakers from a number of activist groups gathered in Fredericton on Jan. 6 for a panel discussion on the war in Gaza. Demonstrations have been occuring across the country; above is a protest in Saskatoon last weekend. Roland Chrisjohn. The speakers’ areas of expertise and backgrounds were all different, but they all expressed the view that the recent siege on the Gaza strip is morally wrong and it has to stop. At one time under Israeli control, Israel supposedly withdrew from the
Hamas-governed Gaza strip in 2005 and left it to the Palestinians. “But it didn’t really withdraw,” insisted Gegenberg, “Israel constantly and brutally intruded into life into Gaza with alternative military sorties and blockades which reduced life there to a constant struggle.”
But in 2008 a ceasefire was made between Israel and the Hamas government, and the conflict was expected to stop. However, the fighting continued until the Dec. 27 climax. “The media almost unilaterally says that Hamas broke that ceasefire, but in fact Israel never really observed that ceasefire,” alleged Gegenberg. “Eventually, Israel began its death from above campaign on Gaza on Dec. 27.” “Today there are at least 600 dead in Gaza, and probably well over 3,000 people who have been wounded,” continued Gegenberg. “And what Israel has in mind is becoming increasingly clear, to force thousands upon thousands of people away from Gaza, possibly into Egypt, and leave it to the international community to deal with these people.” “So it is our task to begin today to expose this, and to ensure that this nightmare on the people in Gaza doesn’t become true,” he concluded as the crowd applauded. The panel’s talk centered around the often-unheard side of the conflict. They argued that the mainstream media often ignores the suffering of Palestine, and it was their goal to get the other side of the story out. “This story doesn’t get into the mainstream media,” said panel member Sue Goldstein. “But it’s up to us to get together and talk about our frustrations because this is how we will get things done.” The conflict has incited discussion and debate across the world, and the UNB campus was of no exception. Debate swirled in Tilley Hall, and
several audience members voiced their displeasure, saying that they felt the panel was one-sided. Some audience members brought up the allegations from Israeli leaders that the siege was provoked by previous missile attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas. According to the panel, the most important issue is that people are dying. “You don’t have to be Palestinian to feel the pain that’s happening,” said Ghanem, echoing the sentiments of many in the room. “What’s going on is nothing short of genocide,” said First Nations activist Roland Chrisjohn. “And we’re all complicit if we allow this to happen.” As a First Nations Canadian, Chrisjohn believes that because of the similarities between the Israelis’ alleged quest to gain more land, and the First Nations’ past struggles with land loss, that it is the duty of the Native Community to speak out in solidarity with Gaza. “It aggrieves me that there are not enough First Nations people speaking out against this atrocity,” he said. But perhaps the most inspiring words came from Sue Goldstein, a women’s rights activist from Toronto. Goldstein is a Jewish woman, but she is against the siege and in support of Palestine. “I’m speaking as a Jew because this is done in my name, but I’m also speaking as a person,” she said. “We need to be a stepping stool for people to get on top of, for the people of Palestine to be able to get up and say that what is happening is wrong.”