London: Large Christian bloc in National March for Palestine

Up to half a million campaigners of all faiths and beliefs, marched through London on Saturday, from the Bank along Fleet Street towards Trafalgar Square down Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament, appealing for peace in Gaza and the West Bank. The Christian bloc, co-ordinated by Christians For Palestine, included banners from Pax Christi, the Church of England, Quakers, several J&P groups, the Columbans, London Catholic Worker, Passionists, Holy Land Trust, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, Sisters of St, Joseph of Peace and many more. We walked next to the Jewish bloc, which included hundreds of individuals and members of Na'Amod, International Anti-Zionist Network, Jews for Palestine, Torah Jews, JVL and other Jewish peace groups.

Columban Sisters Kate Midgley and Young Mi helped carry one of the Christian banners. Sr Mi said: "The reason I joined the demo is only a little gesture to show my solidarity towards suffering Palestinians. Because what is going on in Gaza and what Palestinians have to go through at this time is a total distortion of humanity."

Little Amal - the 3.5 metre tall puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian refugee girl, who made the 8,000 km journey from the Syrian border to Manchester, in 2021, to highlight the plight of child refugees, led the front of the march, accompanied by a group of Palestinian children.

Speaking in Parliament Square, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, accused the British government of "complicity" with Israel. He said: "I stand before you with a broken heart but not a broken spirit." He congratulated South Africa for bringing a genocide case against Israel at the UN's international court of justice.

Sinn Féin's president, Mary Lou McDonald, told the crowd that Palestinian freedom is possible. She said: "When I say this, standing in London, in common cause with you, having walked our own journey out of conflict, building peace for 25 years, this can happen. "This must happen and we will ensure that it does."

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn thanked South Africa for their bravery bring their case to the ICJ. He pointed out that the weapons used in the onslaught on Gaza are provided by the United States and the UK. Corbyn thanked everyone around the world and especially those campaigners in Israel who are speaking up for peace, justice and hope.

This was the seventh National March for Palestine in London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign since October.

Protests took place in 120 cities around the world on Saturday, including Dublin, Edinburgh, Washington DC, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Rome and Milan.

Today, Peace Sunday, Pope Francis made a heartfelt appeal for an end to armed conflicts and a firm condemnation of war as "a crime against humanity."

"War itself is a crime against humanity. People need peace. The world needs peace," said the Pope at the Sunday Angelus prayer.

He also mentioned a program he had seen on an Italian TV channel just minutes before, in which the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land had spoken. Fr Ibrahim Faltas said: "we need to learn from John the Baptist how to cry out and show the path to follow." Jesus, he added, is "the way. He is forgiveness, justice, love, and peace."

"If we follow Jesus, we will truly have peace and there will be no war," said Fr Faltas.

He noted that there are over 60 ongoing wars in the world, calling the global situation "utter confusion." "We want to live in peace," concluded Fr Faltas. "We want to follow Jesus, so we will have peace throughout the world."

LINKS

See more pictures and videos on the ICN Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064591363750&ref=bookmarks

Pax Christi: https://paxchristi.org.uk/
Stop the War: www.stopwar.org.uk/
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign: https://palestinecampaign.org/