Berlin, Jan 16, IRNA – Berlin-based Arabs and Palestinians on Friday held a candle light vigil in the heart of the German capital to honor the thousands of Palestinian victims of the Israeli war in Gaza in December 2008-January 2009, IRNA reported.
Braving an arctic freeze, teary-eyed Palestinians and Arabs held up pictures of women
and children killed in the Israeli massacres in Gaza.
The demonstrators, waving Palestinians flags, voiced their support and solidarity for
the Palestinians in Gaza who are still subjected to the ongoing inhuman Israeli siege.
The statement called for an end to the occupation of Palestine and the lifting of the
joint Israeli-Egyptian siege of Gaza.
Palestinians are to hold annual commemoration ceremonies of Israeli atrocities in Gaza across the world from January 13 through 19.
Germany witnessed mass protests against the brutal Israeli military aggression in Gaza.
Every second German views Israel as an “aggressive” country, according to a survey released by the Hamburg-based weekly news magazine stern.
Some 59 percent of Germans said Israel is ruthlessly pursuing its own national interests without even considering the interests of other countries.
Only 30 percent of those questioned said Israel was actually respecting human rights.
Asked about Israel’s right to exist, 13 percent opposed it.
The opinion poll is in stark contrast to the official position of the present center-right German government which has reiterated its unwavering support for the illegal Jewish state.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has faced mounting public criticism for blaming only Hamas for triggering the Gaza onslaught and for closing her eyes to Israeli crimes.
Critics of Merkel’s hardline pro-Israel policy in the Gaza war have argued that Berlin’s position on the Palestinian crisis was almost totally identical to that of the illegal Jewish state.
Merkel has strongly defended Israel’s slaughtering in Gaza, labeling it “legitimate self-defense.”
Nearly 70 percent of Germans rejected Merkel’s position on holding Hamas responsible for sparking the Israeli military onslaught on Gaza, according to an earlier poll released by the private sat 1 broadcasting network.