Councillor calls for support for Peace Bridge Vigil for Palestine on New Year's Eve

Global Pressure to Isolate Israel Must Continue in New Year, according to Derry City and Strabane District councillor, Shaun Harkin (PBP).

Cllr Harkin also urged as many people as possible to join the Peace Bridge Vigil for Palestine at 2.00pm on New Year's Eve (Wednesday).

"The situation in Gaza is far from a ceasefire or peaceful," said Cllr Harkin. "Israel continues to kill and maim Palestinians on a daily basis and denies entry of medical supplies and food, leaving Gaza’s population vulnerable to disease, illness, hunger and severe weather conditions.

"The recent meeting between Donald Trump and Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu underscored the US/Israeli plan to continue ethnic cleansing and deny Palestinian self-determination," he added.

'Vigil for Palestine' New Year's Eve Derry

Vigil on Peace Bridge at 2.00pm

Protest held in Magherafelt for hunger strikers and against arms trade

A protest was held at the Diamond protesting the British government's treatment of prisoners, who opposed the Israeli arms trade in the UK, currently on hunger strike

"In 2026, we must continue to build a global mass movement challenging the genocide being inflicted on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, complicity with it, criminalisation of opposition to genocide and the dangerous increase in arms spending by the world's most powerful states.

"Young Palestine solidarity activists in Britain, unjustly locked-up without trial for opposing genocide and demanding the closure of Elbit Systems, are still on hunger strike - and could die unless Starmer's government is forced to intervene.

"The Irish government continues to hold-up implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill and refuses to introduce real sanctions aimed at fully boycotting Israel.

"Stormont continues to allow INVEST NI to use public money to fund businesses here involved in the F-35 Programme, which has been declared as fully complicit with Israel's genocide by BDS movement leaders," said Cllr Harkin.

"Tesco bosses have thus far refused to reinstate a Newcastle, County Down worker who refused to handle Israeli products in line with the call made by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement," he added.

"Others across Ireland and elsewhere wrongly face criminalisation for taking action to stop genocide - when it is those responsible for genocide and those complicit with war crimes who should be facing charges.

"The global people power movement exposed Israel's terrorism and humanised the suffering of the Palestinian - bringing massive pressure on the US, Britain and EU to end their support for Israel's campaign of slaughter and annihilation of Gaza.

"For all these reasons, we need to continue to develop the global Palestine solidarity movement and make sure those complicit with Israel feel its pressure."