"In pain we are with you Gaza", chanted the protesters who were gathered outside the embassy of Israel in New Delhi. Flanked by nonchalant policemen, men, women and many foreigners were present in front of the Israel embassy to register their protest against what they called a "Zionist massacre".
Ali Javed is a 60-year-old professor of Urdu in Delhi University. Dressed in a dark blue kurta, he braved the searing heat to register his protest against what he believed to be the most unfortunate case of human rights violation.
He told ANI, "People of India, right from our independence movement under Gandhi, have supported the cause of Palestine. We have always believed that Israel should not occupy the land of Palestine. Countries of the world must unite against Israel and put diplomatic pressure on them to stop these attacks."
Sandeep Samvad, who organised the 'Indian people in solidarity with Gaza' campaign, also submitted a memorandum to the Indian government demanding that it must summon the Israeli ambassador and demand an immediate end to the bombings. He also wanted the government to sever diplomatic relations with the Israel.
Israel aerial attack against Gaza has led to at least 160 civilian casualties on the Palestinian side while a few Israeli citizens were reportedly injured in rockets fired from the Palestinian side.
Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, had also appealed to both sides to respect international law while expressing alarm at the death toll in Palestine and the rockets fired into Israel.
In Delhi, however, it wasn't only the Indian people who showed up to register their outrage against Israel. Suzanne, a young Arab-American lawyer was also among the protesters who called for action against Israel.
Suzanne, an Arab-American currently staying in Delhi addressed the crowd and declared Israel's actions as genocide.
She said, "Israel is currently committing genocide in the Gaza strip and it has actually been a decade long campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestine from its indigenous population. People around the world are rising up and protesting not only against Israel but also against their own governments."
"As an Arab American, we don't see it as a conflict or a war; we see it as a model of contemporary colonialism. Israel has been implementing policies after policies to try and expand their access to land and resources in Palestine," she added. (ANI)
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