- Title: BOLIVIA: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Bolivia rally against Israel
- Date: 11th July 2014
- Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (JULY 11, 2014) (REUTERS) PEOPLE TOGETHER WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM PALESTINIAN COMMUNITY, PROTESTING AGAINST ISRAEL PLAZA VENEZUELA IN DOWNTOWN WITH PEOPLE PROTESTING AGAINST ISRAEL CLOSE UP OF SIGN THAT READS: 'I AM CHRISTIAN, NOT STUPID - I DON'T SUPPORT ISRAEL' CLOSE UP OF REPRESENTATIVE FROM PALESTINIAN COMMUNITY AYMAN ALTARAMSI, TOGETHER WITH YOUNG PEOPLE PROTESTING AGAINST ISRAEL VARIOUS OF PEOPLE BURNING SIGN THAT READS: 'ISRAEL' VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CARRYING PALESTINIAN AND BOLIVIAN FLAGS CLOSE UP OF REPRESENTATIVE FROM PALESTINIAN COMMUNITY HANGING UP BOLIVIAN AND PALESTINIAN FLAGS PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATING AGAINST ISRAEL CLOSE UP OF PALESTINIAN FLAG WAVING ON MAIN AVENUE IN LA PAZ (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REPRESENTATIVE FROM PALESTINIAN COMMUNITY AYMAN ALTARAMSI, SAYING: "We fully repudiate the genocide and massacre that the Zionist State of Israel is carrying out against the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip that has taken more than 100 lives, injured 800 people, destroyed 300 homes, completely wiped out families, all by the genocidal government of Israel that was formed 66 years ago with the massacres of neighbouring Arab countries, where it was formed with help from England and the United States." VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS HOLDING SIGNS THAT SAY: 'It's not a war, it's genocide - support Palestine' and 'Plaza Venezuela in the city of La Paz' VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WITH PRO-PALESTINIAN SIGNS CLAUDIA PENA, MINISTER OF BOLIVIAN AUTONOMY, WITH OTHER PRO-PALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MINISTER OF BOLIVIAN AUTONOMY, CLAUDIA PENA, SAYING: "We ask the United Nations to have a proactive stance against this violence. The war against terrorism is an excuse, a fallacy, we are talking about an unarmed community, we are talking about people who are being assassinated in their homes and here in Bolivia we are demonstrating against this violence. We, the communities of the world are peaceful communities and one needs to respect the right to live that we all have." VARIOUS OF PRO-PALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS
- Embargoed: 26th July 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Bolivia, Plurinational State Of
- Country: Bolivia
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA9X49VT2EJA2XE2PFTLINYHZQ3
- Story Text: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Plaza Venezuela in downtown La Paz on Friday (July 11) as the death toll from Israeli air strikes in Gaza continued to climb.
Israel said on Friday it would not bow to international pressure to end the air strikes that officials there said had killed almost 100 Palestinians.
Medical officials in Gaza said at least 75 civilians, including 23 children, were among at least 99 people killed in the aerial bombardments which Israel began on Tuesday (July 8).
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the United Nations Security Council to order an immediate truce.
But Israel said it was determined to end cross-border rocket attacks that intensified last month after its forces arrested hundreds of activists from the Islamist Hamas movement in the occupied West Bank following the abduction there of three Jewish teenagers who were later found killed. A Palestinian youth was killed in Jerusalem in a suspected Israeli revenge attack.
A rocket caused the first serious Israeli casualty - one of eight people hurt when a fuel tanker was hit at a service station in Ashdod, 30 km (19 miles) north of Gaza, and Palestinian militants warned international airlines they would fire rockets at Tel Aviv's main airport.
Ayman Altaramsi, a representative from the Palestinian community in Bolivia, said that the killing of Palestinian civilians was genocide and had to be stopped immediately.
"We fully repudiate the genocide and massacre that the Zionist State of Israel is carrying out against the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip that has taken more than 100 lives, injured 800 people, destroyed 300 homes, completely wiped out families, all by the genocidal government of Israel that was formed 66 years ago with the massacres of neighbouring Arab countries, where it was formed with help from England and the United States," said Altaramsi.
The protesters waved both Bolivian and Palestinian flags and carried signs bearing anti-Israel slogans.
Claudia Pena, Minister of Bolivian Autonomy, called on the United Nations to intervene.
"We ask the United Nations to have a proactive stance against this violence. The war against terrorism is an excuse, a fallacy, we are talking about an unarmed community, we are talking about people who are being assassinated in their homes and here in Bolivia we are demonstrating against this violence. We, the communities of the world are peaceful communities and one needs to respect the right to live that we all have," she said.
The offensive is the deadliest since November 2012, when around 180 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed during an Israeli air campaign to punish Hamas for missile attacks. That conflict was eventually halted with mediation from Egypt, which was then governed by Hamas' Muslim Brotherhood allies. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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