On Saturday, July 29, a big demonstration took place in Brussels, where a crowd of approximately 20,000 Belgians protested against the ongoing Israeli war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon.
Many organizations, from various countries in Europe, provided speakers, who spoke over a microphone to the crowd, gathered at the square of the Central Station. Among the speakers were representatives from various countries like France, Italy and the Netherlands, who spoke to a crowd waving predominantly Palestinian and Lebanese flags, and carrying slogans calling for an end to the killing.
The Palestinian Community in the Netherlands (PGN) was invited to provide a speaker at the demonstration. Below is the complete version of the speech, that was shortened considerably due to bad weather conditions and time shortage.
Speech by Tariq Shadid
Spokesman for the Palestinian Community in the Netherlands
Brussels, 29th of July, 2006
Many of us have come from far away, and have travelled long distances from all the corners of Europe to be gathered here today, here in Brussels, the capital of the European Union.
The reason for all of us, to be prepared to make this effort, is our collective disgust, and our collective disapproval, of the unnecessary blood that is being spilled, and the lives that are being taken, of men, women, and children, in Palestine and Lebanon.
A demonstration like this, is a very important way for us to exercise our right to express our opinion, and is one of the vital components of the democratic process.
Your being here, is therefore a commendable act in the spirit of democracy, and I wish to applaud you all for coming here in solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon.
Thank you!
In fact, all of us here together, today, at this moment, we are representing the conscience of Europe.
If we were not here today, it would have signified, that Europe no longer has a conscience.
So why do we need to be here?
Because we do not see our state leaders here in Europe acting in accordance with anything even resembling a conscience. What we do see, is them acting with cowardice, apathy, spinelessness, and with sheer wilful neglect.
They follow the policy of the ostrich, and stick their heads in the sand in order not to see the terrifying results of their impotence.
This is why we are here, to put our finger on the sore spot, and be their collective conscience!
We want them to hear our voices echoing in their minds, and to keep echoing there, until they act upon what we are saying.
This is why we say to the Leaders of Europe, most notably Blair, Balkenende, Verhofstadt, Chirac, and Merkel :
Do you realize, that your silence over the massive Israeli war crimes against the men, women and children of Palestine and Lebanon, makes you accomplices to these war crimes?
Do you realize, that your attitude makes you guilty of sponsoring and condoning state terrorism, perpetrated on a massive scale by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by Israel in Palestine and Lebanon?
Do you realize, that the US-Israeli Axis of State Terrorism is a combined force, that only Europe has the diplomatic and economical means to act against?
Why have you allowed Bush and Olmert to hijack the agenda of European foreign policy, and turned all of us here into accomplices of the murdering of innocent Palestinian women and children, the causing of 800,000 Lebanese refugees running for their lives, the destruction of their homes, and the slaughter of hundreds of their relatives?
Leaders of Europe, we, the Europeans, have given you the mandate to govern our affairs, through democratic elections.
We have given you this mandate, based on the trust that you will not betray the spirit of Europe, the spirit of enlightenment, the spirit of value for human life, the spirit of equality and justice.
But by supporting the US-Israeli Axis of State Terrorism, you are betraying our confidence in you.
Leaders of Europe,
You are siding with the ruthless and murderous mafia of neo-conservatism aligned with Zionism , the grim and lethal alliance that now openly declares its aims to ‘reshape the Middle East’.
We now know, that they aim to reshape it, using missiles, white phosphorous bombs, cluster bombs and other weapons of mass destruction, many of them illegal weapons under international law.
These people even have the gruesome audacity to refer to hundreds of dead Arab civilians as ‘birth pains of the New Middle East’. Before, innocent victims of their state terrorism were, equally disrespectfully, called “collateral damage”. This is the terminology, that these so-called civilized people are using, when they refer to lost human lives.
This is not our morality, not the morality of 21st century Europe!
Is this, mr. Verhofstad, your new Europe? Mr. Balkenende, is this your morality? Angela Merkel, is this your way of showing your respect for international law? Mr. Chirac, will you forever continue your hypocrisy towards the Arab world, while silently condoning the assassination of our children? Mr. Blair, do you know the meaning of the word ‘conscience’, and the meaning of the words ‘human rights’?
You have all, so far, failed to prove that a unified Europe is indeed a protector of these higher values, and this international legislation.
All you have shown so far, is that Europe is an opportunistic force, without moral principles, without respect for international law, without reverence for human rights, and without a heart, without a heart for the innocent and terrified children, who are on the receiving end, of the murderous missiles of your dubious friends.
You KNOW, that Israel is the real danger in the Middle East.
You KNOW, that Israel is the only country that systematically refuses to comply with tens of UN resolutions, and with international law.
You KNOW, that the ONLY true cause of all the problems is the illegal Israeli occupation!
You KNOW, that the United States and Israel are acting upon the ‘Clean Break’- policy issued in 1996, that aims to rebuild the entire Middle East, and therefore, you are even well aware that there is more war to come.
Leaders of Europe,
Is this why you are silent now? Is that why you cannot raise your voices against these crimes? Have you already given your tacit approval for more wars to come, for instance against Syria and Iran?
The US-Israeli alliance will wage more wars, not because the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance want war, but because the US-Israeli Axis of State Terrorism, has this in store for the whole region, in the coming times.
The Palestinian and Lebanese resistance are only exercising their inalienable right of resistance, against occupation and oppression, not only a natural and logical right, but a right engraved in International Law. It is Israel that is the aggressor, as it always has been.
You know all this, and yet you refuse to listen to your conscience.
Leaders of Europe, we will not allow you to ignore your conscience any longer, and turn us and our children into accomplices of this new string of War Crimes in Palestine and Lebanon!
In your coming elections, you will see how we will push you from your seats of power, and replace you by representatives who are not belligerent like you, bloodthirsty like you, cowards like you. We will elect those who have moral courage, and civilization, and who have respect for international law!
The people of Spain ditched Aznar, the people of Italy ditched Berlusconi … this is the domino-effect, and you are next, mr Blair, mr Balkenende, mr Verhofstad, mrs Merkel, and Mr Chirac !
STOP making us part of these crimes!
STOP Israel and the United States from killing more people, their murderous habits have to end, and they have to end NOW!
STOP giving Israel and the United States the opportunity to place themselves above international law!
Leaders of Europe, WE are your conscience !
WE, the peoples of Europe, are your conscience, and we are telling you, you are failing us in your duties!
WE believe in human rights, and we believe in freedom !
WE DON’T believe in state terrorism, and neither should you, if you wish to represent Europe !
WE are your conscience ! STOP the murder! STOP these war crimes!
Long Live Palestine!
Long Live Lebanon!
Long Live Iraq!
Long Live Justice!
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