Fast for Gaza by Nenagh Friends of Palestine hits 100 days

Nenagh Friends of Palestine launched its Hunger for Justice: Gaza campaign over 100 days ago to raise awareness about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Every day since April 15, one individual has been completing their own 24-hour fast for Gaza.

While fundraising has not been the core aim of this campaign, so far the group has managed to raise over €13,693 for the Palestinian charity, UNRWA, and local initiatives to send aid directly to Gaza.

Fergal McDonnell, member of Nenagh Friends of Palestine, the North Tipperary branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and lead organiser of the campaign commented on why the group thought it was so important to do this collective fast.

“The motivation behind it really was to focus on the blockade that is going on over in Gaza. The fact that basic things like food, water, medicine; that these essential things are being blocked, it’s unconscionable really that this is being done, and it was to highlight that in particular.”

Simon Cromer, member of the club said the fast is about honouring an important part of Muslim culture.

“I wanted to show solidarity with the people in Gaza, the fact that there was the fasting element, which is a big part of Muslim culture and with the supplies and food not getting in and also the part of remembering someone, that every day someone would remember somebody.”

While completing their fast, each participant of the campaign was asked to dedicate their period of fasting to a victim of the conflict in Gaza. For some participants of the campaign, this was the hardest part of their endeavour.

“When your time is coming, you have to stop and think for a while. You have to dedicate this fast to someone, which sounds easy, but
actually in practice what it means is you have to work out who in 30-40,000 people you should pick,” explained Ollie Moore, participant of the campaign.

“A lot of people find it very hard to open up to the grief and the scale of what is happening, so they just close off and they don’t get involved at all, but I suppose we have all tried to open up, and it is emotionally
tough.” continued Ollie Moore.

“I picked a Paramedic due to my own medical background. He went out in an ambulance to a call, and as soon as he went to walk to the injured party, he was shot dead himself. I was thinking about all the Paramedics here in Nenagh and Limerick who go out daily, and little do
they think they are going to be shot when they get there” commented Mary McDonnell, who completed her fast in aid of Mohammed Awad Allan on day 17 of the campaign.

“Mine was made very easy for me. It was suggested to me by a fella we are in contact with out in Gaza. His best friend is a son of the mayor of Gaza, and he was a journalist and he was shot. He asked me would I mind doing it. He had two friends that were killed and he asked me to pick either one of them,” commented Mike McDonnell, who did his fast for
Roshdi Sarraj on day 12 of the Hunger for Justice: Gaza campaign.

Mike’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Treasa McDonnell also completed a fast on the same day for Layan Hamadeh, a young girl who was the same age as her when she was killed.

Damian O’ Donoghue, founding member of Nenagh Friends of Palestine completed his fast on day 91 of the campaign.

“I dedicated my fast to Ghassan Gharib Hussein Zahran, a 14-year-old boy who was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank. He was playing outside his village with two friends when he was shot in the back from 100 metres away after being fired on by three Israeli soldiers. This boy was completely innocent as so many of the victims are. His killing was a needless war crime” stated Damian O’ Donoghue.

The group have been delighted with how people have responded to the campaign and has been very appreciative of all the people that have come forward asking to participate in their ongoing endeavour to raise awareness of the catastrophe in Gaza.

“We are getting a great response, and that’s the truth of it. People are very complimentary about what we are doing and how we are doing it because it’s a little bit different to other campaigns that are going on,” commented Fergal McDonnell.

The campaign has received a great response from the general public.

“The general public have been very good, the amount of people that have come to us and said, do you know what? I’d love to do that too that are not in our group,” praised Fergal McDonnell.

If you would like to contribute to this campaign and show your solidarity for the people in Gaza, then you can contact Nenagh Friends of Palestine on Facebook and Instagram and also by email at nenaghfriendsofpalestine@gmail.com.