by Girard Mariano Lopez
語言:
English
Photo Credit: Girard Mariano Lopez
LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL community members across Taipei gathered on Sunday at Liberty Square in Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall to commemorate the 42,000 Palestinian lives that have been murdered by Israeli offensives in the past year, as well as the hundreds recently killed in recent Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon. On the morning of October 7th, organizers from the Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine also held a flash mob outside of the Israeli Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei in the World Trade Center.
Photo credit: Girard Mariano Lopez
The candlelight vigil on October 6th, organized by Migrante Taiwan in collaboration with Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine, shed light on the lives and stories of martyred Palestinians. Photos of the deceased from all backgrounds were displayed on the ground as their stories were narrated by volunteers from attendees. The difficulty and trials faced by doctors, orphaned kids, teachers, and activists in Gaza were highlighted throughout the event as participants laid kids’ shoes, stuffed toys, and candles. Various participants also shared personal calls for an end to Israel’s siege in Gaza and Lebanon, with a Palestinian from the West Bank based in Taiwan sharing a story of the prosecution that his family had faced.
“Israel has long employed its policy of collective punishment and it makes no distinction between fighter or civilian. There was no peace, not even before October 7,” organizer Julia Mariano said regarding the event commemorating both Palestinian victims and resistance, “This vigil honors every single life that was lost on the way to liberating Palestine.”
Photo credit: Girard Mariano Lopez
During the October 7th flash mob outside of the Israeli Economic and Cultural Office, protestors from the Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine outside the Israeli Office in Taipei portrayed a Hitler-mustached Netanyahu and threw bloodied stuffed toys, shoes, and items at his portrait, representing the 16,000 children that had been killed from Israel’s siege in Gaza. The group decried the expansion of the war into Lebanon and Yemen, the collapse of international rule of law, and the complicity of the Taiwanese government in allowing the country’s manufacturers to trade arms components with Israeli and American arms dealers.
“Instead of Taiwan standing with the vast majority of the world accountable and condemning the actions of Israel, Taiwan has decided to form an alliance with Israel,” Andy Liu from the Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine remarked, “Taiwan’s hands aren’t clean in this current bloodshed, and the general public and the Taiwanese government seem to try to ignore and keep this as hidden as possible.”
Photo credit: Girard Mariano Lopez
October 7th marks one year since the 2023 Hamas-led offensive began, when Palestinian national militants launched an operation into the Israel-occupied Gaza envelope, following the occupation of the Al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli settlers. Prior to the attacks, 2023 had already marked the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the West Bank, while a 17-year blockade of water, food, and supplies had been imposed on Gaza, with humanitarian organizations recognizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid. In total, 1,139 people were killed in Israel, while around 250 people were taken as hostages into the Gaza Strip. Concurrently, nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and 11,000 people were killed within just one month of Israel’s retaliation.
Since the war began, Taiwan has continued to maintain strong ties with Israel. Not only did Taiwan donate 15.9 million NT to local government agencies in Israel, but also formed a Taiwan-Israel Congressional Association via DPP lawmaker Chung Chia-Pin promoting exchanges and cooperation. According to investigations by the Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine, Taiwanese companies such as Thunder Tiger, Enova, and Gloria Material Technology produce weapon components for the US and Israel. The Taiwanese pager company Gold Apollo was also implicated in the recent pager attack in Lebanon that killed 12 people and injured 3,000. While the Taiwan foreign ministry made a donation of 500,000 USD for humanitarian aid in Gaza, it remains hesitant in calling on Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza, with the previous president, Tsai Ing-Wen, failing to mention the human rights situation in Gaza or the West Bank during a visit by the Israel Knesset last April 2024.
Photo credit: Girard Mariano Lopez
A larger rally marking the anniversary of the ongoing genocide in Gaza will be held at the Nishi Honganji Square in Ximen at 1:00 pm, organized by the Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine. The march will circle the Ximen commercial district and end at Ximen Station Exit 6, with a program that will conclude at 4:30 pm.