Gaza solidarity protesters gathered outside Moncton City Hall recently as part of Nakba Day, which commemorates the violent displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli War that accompanied the founding of Israel in 1948.
The United Nations recognizes approximately 6 million displaced people and their descendants as refugees following the historical event known as the Nakba, an Arabic word meaning catastrophe. In the Gaza Strip, those refugees represent most of the population.
At the protest in Moncton on Nakba Day, May 15, peace activists noted a grim continuity between the current military assault on Gaza and events that occurred more than 75 years ago.
Steve Berube of the grassroots group Citizens for Peace told the crowd that he knows people in the local community who have lost "close to 50 family members" in the Gaza Strip in recent months, and that he knows others in Canada who have lost upwards of 100 family members.
"This is not just something that affects people far away, it affects people living here," he said.
Another speaker, reading from a speech by Annie Clair of Elsipogtog First Nation, noted parallels between the experiences of Palestinians and Mi'kmaq people under settler colonialism. "There was life on Mi'kmaq land that was taken by settlers," Clair said.
Berube called for Canada to end its "unwavering support for Israel," a reference to Canada's track record as one of the country's staunchest allies.
"Not only should we stop shipping arms to them, but we... should consider stopping all trade with Israel," said the retired United Church minister.
"We must treat refugees from Gaza in the same manner as Canada has treated refugees from the war in Ukraine."
Berube cited the massive scale of destruction in the besieged Gaza Strip after more than seven months of bombardment by the Israeli military, following the October 7 attacks led by Hamas.
By May, at least five per cent of people in Gaza had been killed or severely injured or were missing, according to a United Nations report issued this month.
The report by the UN Development Program and the UN Economic Commission for Western Asia called the scope and scale of damage to civilian infrastructure "unprecedented"
In Moncton, Berube also called for Canada to recognize an independent Palestinian state, among other actions.
Three European countries -Norway, Spain, and Ireland - recently announced that they would take that step, prompting anger from Israel, which withdrew its ambassadors from those countries.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has resisted pressure from the NDP and some Liberal MPs to immediately follow suit, telling the House of Commons that Canada will recognize the state of Palestine "at the right time."
In an interview with the NB Media Co-op, Berube recalled his time living in the Occupied West Bank as a human rights observer with the World Council of Churches in 2013.
"Every day there were violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws," he said.
"Palestinians were not able to travel freely. They were not able to access their land, to harvest their crops. At almost every turn, they faced roadblocks or interventions by the Israeli military."
"It becomes something that you feel in your heart, and you can't help but want to go and to be with them and even 7,000 kilometers away to be able to do what you can in support of them."
David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).
25 май 2024
