St Joseph's Boys' School congratulated for 'Olive Branch for Gaza' fundraiser
‘In years to come, no-one will be able to accuse the pupils of St Joseph’s School of being on the wrong side of history’ - Cllr Pat Murphy
The staff and pupils of St Joseph’s Boys' School in Derry have been warmly congratulated for their ‘Olive Branch for Gaza’ fundraiser by local Derry City and Strabane District councillors.
Between June 1 and June19, members of St Joseph’s School community undertook a sponsored fast to provide water and medical supplies for Gaza. The fast culminated in a coffee morning in the school last week.
Speaking at Wednesday’s full Council meeting, Cllr Pat Murphy (Sinn Féin) commended everyone involved.
He said: “As they break up for the summer holidays they should be proud of themselves for shining a light into the dark corners of the ongoing genocide in Palestine and for showing their humanity and generosity of spirit for its beleaguered citizens.
“For many decades now the people of Palestine have endured brutality, repression and apartheid but the last 20 months have seen an unprecedented, relentless and cruel genocide inflicted on the population of Gaza - more than 56,000 deaths, mostly women and children, with many thousands more unaccounted for presumed dead.
“We have witnessed the destruction of schools and hospitals, the deliberate targeting of doctors, nurses, first responders and journalists. The Israelis have cut water supplies leading to disease. They have stopped food and medical supplies from entering Gaza, leading to a huge humanitarian crisis, as all the while, bombs keep falling on the population as the world watches on in horror.
“In years to come, no-one will be able to accuse the pupils of St Joseph’s School of being on the wrong side of history.
“They are a credit to themselves, their parents and their community.”
Supporting Cllr Murphy’s comments, Cllr Catherine McDaid (SDLP) described St Joseph’s as being “absolutely incredible” over the past year.
“A lot of schools locally have not stood up and actually spoken about Palestine and let their students have a voice there,” she added. “I think St Joseph’s deserves recognition because they really have put their heads above the parapet and put themselves out there and raised loads of money and raised the profile and talked about it and highlighted the cause.”
Thanking Cllr Murphy for raising the issue, Cllr Gary Donnelly said: “For too long too many people, including Catholic maintained schools and churches, have made a distinct difference between the lives of Ukrainians and the lives of Palestinians.
“We have had churches and schools dressing children in the colours of Ukraine as solidarity, Ukrainian flags on altars and very, very little, apart from individual schools.
“I would like to commend St Joseph’s for the decision to do this and as Cllr Murphy said, when history is recorded, St Joseph’s School will be on the right side.”