As violence in the Gaza Strip has intensified in recent weeks, the BVI Islamic Society decided it was time to lend its voice to the global call for peace.
“Peace in Gaza,” chanted Hani Husein Tuesday afternoon, echoed by about 100 Virgin Islands residents as they marched from the Sunday Morning Well to the BVI Islamic Society on Main Street.
A Palestinian by birth, Mr. Husein said he was pleased to see support from Islamic Society members as well as from Christians in the territory.
“The Virgin Islands may be small, but the people have big, big hearts,” he said before the peace march in Road Town Tuesday afternoon.
BVI Islamic Society President Lesville Wheatley said that while the violence in Gaza may seem far away from VI residents, the Muslim faith requires those who are comfortable to do what they can to help people in need.
“So that’s why it’s so painful for us to see what is going on in Gaza,” Mr. Wheatley said.
Longstanding tensions between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, escalated following the kidnapping and killing of three Jewish teenagers last month in the West Bank city of Hebron. Blaming Hamas for the killings and for sporadic rocket attacks, Israel began a military operation on July 7 and sent in ground troops ten days later.
But international criticism of the invasion quickly mounted following the deaths of some 1,100 Palestinians, many of whom were civilians and children. About 55 Israelis have died as well.
See the July 31, 2014 edition for full coverage.
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