BRAVING the broiling midday sun, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and other groups took to the streets yesterday in a peaceful protest against American support of Israeli policy towards Gaza.

Protesters marched outside the United States (U.S.) Embassy entrance in Young Street, Kinston, Georgetown.
The 200-strong group was made up of representatives of the PPP, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Rice Producers Association (RPA).
They bore placards with messages such as ‘Israel’s policy towards Gaza is contrary to the rule of law’; ‘The PPP stands fully behind the people of Palestine’; ‘The U.S. must stop supporting Israeli’s oppression of the people of Gaza’ and ‘Israelis murder of men, women and children is callous’.
The grouping was unanimous in its calls for the immediate cessation of violence against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
A call was also made for the United States of America and the European Union to make a more concerted effort to halt the military campaign of large-scale bombings of the Palestinian people by the Israeli military which has claimed many civilian lives.
The PPP said “greater effort must also be made by these nations to not only pressure Israel to restart peace negotiations between these two states, but also to ensure that these engagements are meaningful by demanding tangible results”.
The party said,  “any attempt to stall such negotiations should be met with strong sanctions by all nations”.
“The suffering of the Palestinian people has gone on for too long and must end now,” the PPP declared.
Meanwhile, one picketer yesterday said: “We’re protesting as a political party to register our rejection of what is taking place in Gaza. We regard it as a violation of human rights, a violation of all the tenets of humanity, it’s a violation of the rule of law, it’s a violation of all democratic conditions”.
Continuing, he said: “The Americans are condoning and are lending their support to crimes against humanity which are being committed with impunity every single day. They like to represent themselves to the world as the bastion of freedom and democracy. And, therefore, we call upon them, if they want to be judged as a country that is fighting for freedom, as an international police as they like to style themselves, then they must take the side of law and intervene to stop the slaughter of human beings which is taking place.”
Hamas, labelled a terrorist organisation and the ruling body in Gaza, refuses to recognise Israel as a sovereign nation.
Israel became a nation in 1948. Leading up to this, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians left or were forced to flee what was previously British-mandate Palestine.