Friday, 2 January 2009
Ramallah – Ma’an – In solidarity with the thousands of dead and injured in the ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians rallied by the hundreds throughout West Bank cities on Thursday.
In the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday, a procession of children holding candles was organized by the Palestinian Red Crescent, following a sit-in at their headquarters.
Meanwhile, residents of the village of Az-Zababdah, near the West Bank city of Jenin, carried out a silent candle procession in solidarity with Gaza. The residents attended a sermon marking the end of 2008 that was held at the village’s Latin Church.
In the central West Bank city of Ramallah, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) participated in a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza. That rally was followed by a sit-in at the city center, along with a meeting at the PLC headquarters in Ramallah.
Members of Fatah and Hamas, along with many other factions, participated in the PLC rally. They called on international and Arab countries to “exert every possible effort to stop these attacks,” according to one protester.
Independent PLC member Hasan Khreisha said that the participation of members of PLC in the rally “is a step forward and a message that all of the members of PLC from all of the Palestinian factions are unified against these Israeli attacks.”
The members of several political blocs agreed to hold continued meetings to continue efforts to stop the attacks and to unify the Palestinians, rejecting division among them.
Similar solidarity rallies were held in Nablus, as well.
