In a display of immense solidarity, hundreds among Edmonton’s Palestinian diaspora convened upon the Alberta legislature on Wednesday. The cause? A sit-in protest advocating for the distraught individuals residing in Gaza, entangled in the Israel-Hamas war.
Mousa Qasqas, the media spokesperson representing Edmonton’s Palestinian community, emphatically voiced the group’s appeal. They implored the Canadian federal government to publicly censure the recent string of assaults plaguing the Gaza Strip.
These assaults involved a devastating blast and the subsequent fire at a crammed Gaza City hospital, full of patients, kinsfolk and Palestinians in desperate search of asylum. Hamas put the blame on an Israeli airstrike. Conversely, Israel laid the culpability on a misdirected rocket from Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction. Islamic Jihad has since dismissed any involvement.
Qasqas emphasized the community’s growing anxiety that the core issues remain marginalized in discussions. According to him, “The occupation of Palestinian land is at the heart of the conflict. It is not the resistance against this occupation, but the occupation itself, which is the fundamental problem. The narrative must shift and must do so urgently. A prejudice persisted for over 75 years can only breed disarray.”
Gaza, a strip of land nestled between Israel and Egypt, borders the Mediterranean Sea. It is the home to nearly 2.3 million Palestinians and is one of two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank.
The Gaza wars, which erupted on October 7, have escalated into the most fatal conflict for both warring sides to date. The Gaza Health Ministry, under Hamas authority, recorded the total Palestinian casualties to be 3,478, with over 12,000 injured in a short span of eleven days.
Israeli authorities have reported over 1,400 Israeli casualties, and the abduction of at least 199 individuals, children included, by Hamas.
Qasqas further informed that Edmonton hosts a relatively larger Palestinian community compared to other Canadian cities. Hence, Wednesday’s central sit-in protest, as opposed to the previous ones held on the city’s northern side, was to broaden participation. The objective? To make this rally all the more accessible and united.
