Gaza-born surgeon living in Navan moved by Palestine solidarity vigil
A NAVAN-based doctor was moved to tears on Saturday when he came across a vigil in Navan by the The Meath Branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Ahmed Mahmoud, an orthopaedic surgeon in Our Lady's Hospital had just been through a very traumatic two week period, where he hardly slept with worry about his family back home in Gaza, when he came across the protest.
“My wife and I had just been doing our grocery shopping and we were coming out from Tesco when I saw the Palestinian flag.
“I thought is that our flag, and then I saw all the posters and banner and realised what was happening.
“I cried. It was very emotional - so touching. I rang my family in Gaza and told them and about these white Irish people, who have never been to Palestine, but who have heard what is happening and want to support us.
“It made us very happy and excited. We went home and got our children, to show them what was happening.”
Mahmoud, his wife and eldest child were born in Gaza.
Mahmoud arrived in Ireland over a month ago to work in Our Lady's Hospital but that period has been fraught with worry as violence escalated and his home country was bombarded by Israel.
“We didn't sleep for nearly ten days, switching from one news channel to another. We were very worried about our families, We would ring them, but the electricity was regularly off so then we wouldn't be able to contact them.
“It was horrible. We went for more than three days before we could confirm they were still alive.
“My wife's brother's home was destroyed but luckily they weren't there and weren't hurt. Their home was about 500metres from where the bomb landed and it was badly damaged.
“Her cousin was injured in another blast.
“My family was safe, but my brother was killed 21 years ago in a similar situation and it brought it all back.”
Mahmoud says because of the Israeli blockade of Gaza he has not seen his family for 12 years.
“We haven't been able to go back and we haven't seen our parents. Our eldest child was born in Gaza but the rest of our family were born in Malaysia and haven't met their grandparents.”
Mahmoud studied and worked in Malaysia after leaving Gaza.
He remembers when growing up with just the minimum to survive, when daily basics were hard to get, his father and grandfather telling him the only way to get out of that situation was to study hard.
The Meath Branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign held Saturday's solidarity vigil in Navan in response to the recent violence.
The branch has written to all Oireachtas members in both Meath constituencies asking them to support Senator Frances Black’s Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban and criminalise trade with Israel.
Despite having passed with majorities in both the Dáil and the Seanad, the government is refusing to enact this legislation.
Moira Leydon, chairperson of the Meath Branch of Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “It is imminently clear that diplomatic nudging of the intransigent Israeli government is not working. Just as the international community with strong moral and political leadership from Ireland demonstrated its repugnance of apartheid in South Africa many decades ago, Ireland must now assume its responsibility to demonstrate its repugnance for the ongoing crime against humanity daily played out in Gaza, the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem and right across Israeli society.”
Cllr Eddie Fennessy said; "The situation in Palestine is horrific, two weeks of Israeli bombing has reduced much of Gaza and the West Bank to rubble. Access to basic services such as water and electricity is non existent which compounds the difficulties already faced by Palestinians. This type of aggression is a crime against humanity. The international community have questions to answer for allowing it to happen."