Director of Bloody Sunday Trust taking part in Hunger for Justice for Palestine

Director of the Bloody Sunday Trust, Maeve McLaughlin, is taking part in 'Hunger for Justice for Palestine'.

Ms McLaughlin said she was fasting on Thursday because she and the "Bloody Sunday Trust and all who are connected to it believe, that we must do all we can to ensure focus remains on the horrific and man-made humanitarian crisis in Palestine".

"While tens of thousands are starving in Gaza, a small sacrifice from us in Ireland is nothing more than a symbolic gesture, but still an important gesture of solidarity," added Ms McLaughlin.

"Ireland knows what enforced starvation is like. We know the long term consequences it can have on a country and its people. It is almost 200 years since the colonial British government tried to starve the Irish people. We lost over a third of our people to death and emigration, and our country has still not recovered from that.

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"So, while we welcome the news of a potential ceasefire and demand that the ‘fugitives from the International Criminal Court-led’ Israeli government abide by all conditions this time, we know that even this will not be an end to the suffering of the people of Palestine.

"Even if an adequate supply of aid begins to flow immediately, the impact of this period of Israeli enforced famine, which was supported by too many western governments, will continue to affect Palestine for years and years to come. 

"Palestine needs more than a ceasefire and a delivery of food and medicine. Palestine needs, and deserves, an end to all colonial subjugation. An end to blockade and deprivation. An end to apartheid. Palestine needs unhindered freedom. Palestine needs justice for what it has had to endure."