London Gaza rally: Bruce Kent urges Holy Land pilgrims to do more than visit ancient ruins

Rally under Big Ben

Hundreds of demonstrations against Israel's bombardment of Gaza took place in towns and cities around the world over the weekend. In London, many thousands of protesters, of all faiths and none, processed from the Israeli Embassy near High Street Kensington to the Houses of Parliament for a massive rally.

Bruce Kent Vice President of Pax Christi and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament He told the crowds: '' I never thought I would have to look at a television screen and see bits of babies blown apart in a hospital. After the Second World War we thought we'd finished with that. It is a disgrace. It is a crime. whats going on now. A crime.

"Last night on television there was a picture of some Israeli solders sitting in a cafe and they said to the camera 'we ill be fighting the Palestinians for ever and ever. You can't stop war.' I think thats absolute nonsense. You can stop war. But it depends on justice. You cannot have peace without justice. and that is what we are about.

"When the Israeli say these are the borders we think are ours, we're bringing down the wall, we're ending the settlements , we're stopping imprisonment without trial, when they start breathing common sense into all this, then we will have peace. But not before then. That's the problem. You people today are calling for a different solution.

Kent went on to point out that Christians have a special role to play in building peace in the region, saying: "I speak as a Christian. And I have to say I am fed up with a number of Christian groups going to Palestine to look at the holy places. Christianity is not a religion of archaeology. Its for human beings today. I think there should be no pilgrimages unless every pilgrim meets the people - both in Israel and Palestine, and finds out what is going on. There are over 30 peace groups in Israel - and talks about a solution to this problem. We're not there just to look at ancient ruins. Its time the preachers woke up to that.

"And finally I have a work for Cameron. Stop being a hypocrite! How dare you talk about selling weapons to Russia when we have been selling weapons to Israel since time immemorial. Let us end all arms sales to anybody and start to build a peaceful just world."

Baroness Jenny Tonge told the crowds: "Israel can no longer be regarded as part of the family of nations, it is a rogue state.”

Musician Brian Eno accused Israel of wanting "plenty of process but no peace" - “As long as the process is going on the Israeli settlers can go on grabbing land and beating up Palestinians,” said Eno, he said. “It is time for sanctions, they are the only thing that frightens them.”

Poet and writer Michael Rosen told how Israel had banned an advertisement that named the children killed in Gaza. “They say don’t mention the children. No one must know the names of the dead children. People must be protected from the names of the children – this is how they think,” said Rosen.