From The River To The Sea...

My wife told me about the march on the Israeli Embassy and sent me the link. There has been so much talk about Gaza in the past weeks, and the death toll has risen so fast, that it's been on my mind fairly constantly. I have had conversations and exchanged messages with Facebook friends and acquaintances, and these were almost always courteous, even when we disagreed. One thing almost all of us agreed on was the sense of despair (as one of my friends put it: "I am Apollonian and I grieve when he vanishes from the Earth.") I have tried to understand the situation as best I can, though I am hugely conscious of my immense ignorance and how privileged and go-with-the-flow my whole daydreamy life has been compared with those who are in the midst of these very "interesting times". I haven't read any actual books, though many articles, and I have generally steered clear of the more obvious emoting and tried to find people who write out of knowledge and experience. I have followed the more left wing Israeli outlet, Haaretz, which seems to attempt to give both sides of the story. Why left wing? Because that is where my sympathies always lie; the left are not infallible by any means but they traditionally root for the underdogs, be they Arab, Jew or any other discriminated-against nationality, race or sexual orientation.

So, I caught the DART into Tara Street and walked to the meeting place at the Spike (or The Milligan as my old friend called it). It seemed smaller than I'd expected, though someone later told me it stretched to the end of O'Connell Street and amounted to a couple of thousand.

It was very orderly and there were many children, waving flags or carrying posters like token soldiers. sometimes the tableaux were excessive, as when a young couple daubed the hair of their own children with red to mimic those who've been killed. There were also graphic posters of dead or wounded children though most were slogans (Boycott Israel, etc.). I didn't see any mention of Nazis, though there were a few of those words Howard Jacobson objected to, such as "Slaughter". "Siege" was another popular one. There were many colourful Palestinian flags and a few veiled faces, a mix of nationalities as far as I could tell.

It rained a little and some took out umbrellas. An atmosphere of general camaraderie and good will, despite the occasional grim face. A speech was made, bigger banners unfurled, flags hoisted, chants chanted:
From the river to the sea,
Palestine will be free.

The march itself started about half an hour late. I followed it as far as College Green.

More here if anyone's interested.