[Peace-discuss] Letter to the Editor

[Karen Medina]

Below is a submission to the editor of the Daily Illini:

You may have heard unified voices on the Quad Tuesday January 22 from 11 to noon. They were shouting slogans like "1,2,3,4 Occupation No-o More!; 5,6,7,8 Israel is a terrorist state", "Free free Palestine", and "Occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Palestine".

Tuesday, the students were protesting the Israeli induced energy blockade on the Gaza Strip, the dire humanitarian crisis that resulted, and the brutal military attacks by the Israeli army. Some criticize the mainstream media for failing to accurately report exactly whom the Israeli Army are bombing. For instance Israel claimed they bombed a Hamas-run building, but the building was actually owned by the Palestinian Interior Ministry. The building has not been in use for some time and the building was in a residential neighborhood. The bombing killed at least one woman at a wedding next-door and wounded at least 46 other civilians including some children playing soccer in the street. A United Nations official condemned the Israeli actions, especially the bombing on Friday, as war crimes. 

“Students for Justice in Palestine” organized Tuesday’s demonstration. Students from other groups like the "Campus Antiwar Network" spread the news and participated. Even a few non-students came to campus to join the students in the cold.

At noon, approximately 20 students packed up their signs and Palestinian flags and returned to class where their feet and hands could thaw out. But they will continue to think of those suffering without power in Palestine. 

Karen Medina
501 E. Daniel, Champaign
(217)766-3341
PhD student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois