‘We can never be okay with this’
Portroe man on three-day fast for Gaza
Nenagh Friends of Palestine in conjunction with the North Tipperary branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign launched its ‘Hunger for Justice: Gaza’ campaign last April.
The campaign has been hugely successful and aims to raise awareness around the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. This is a rolling fast, which means that after 24 hours one volunteer hands over to another for the next 24 hours and so on; in this way we are approaching our 150th day of the fast.
So far the campaign has raised almost €25,000 for the Palestinian charity, UNRWA. A number of notable individuals have also taken part in the campaign including Senator Francis Black, Paul Murphy, TD; comedian Tadhg Hickey and four of the 1981 hunger strikers from the H-Blocks, Laurence McKeown, Leo Green, John Pickering and Jackie McMullen.
Portroe man Joe Quinn is showing outstanding commitment and will undertake a 72-hour fast on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this week, which will represent the 141st, 142nd and 143rd day of the campaign. Joe is a returning volunteer, who has already completed a 24hr fast over the course of the campaign. Joe is very passionate about this cause and is keen to use his voice to highlight the plight of the innocent victims of this most recent humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
MISSING CHILDREN
Joe is dedicating his fast to the missing children in Palestine. According to an article published on savethechildren.net in June this year over 20,000 children are estimated to be either lost, disappeared, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves.
Joe will also dedicate his fast to the family of Alaa Zaher Ahmed, who had three generations of their family murdered in their family home in a vicious assault by the Israeli army.
Commenting on his fast, Joe said: “We can never be okay with this. We are in danger of becoming so desensitised to the destruction that we start to see it as part of daily life.”
“This is not how it is supposed to be, to put it simply. I know we feel helpless as people so far away, seeing the unimaginable suffering. It is my belief that we have a duty to our ancestors to protest and condemn these daily actions by the Israeli oppressors and their backers”.
Joe continued: “We do have a voice, so I am exercising my right to use it. Boycott Israeli goods and services; we need to hurt the money machine, it seems to be the only language that the oppressors understand. Just like apartheid South Africa, the powers that be were eventually forced to listen”.
Joe concluded: “Doing this fast we have a choice and know we can eat again soon in the near future. The people of Palestine do not have this most basic needs met on a daily basis. We must help.”
To follow the campaign, to donate or to get involved, please like the Nenagh Friends of Palestine page on Facebook.