Members of a global activist group took to the European Union (EU) headquarters in Belgium to put on a powerful exhibit paying accolades to the Palestinian lives lost in conflict since the past ten years.
A U.S based online platform for global activism that goes by the name of Avaaz, put on a display of 4,500 pairs of shoes right outside the EU headquarters at Jean Rey Square in Belgium’s city of Brussels.
The distinctive yet remarkably compelling display signified all the Palestinian lives that perished in the past 10 years as a result of the Israel- Palestine collisions.
Regarding the protest the campaign director of Avaaz, Christoph Schott has stated: “Citizens across Europe have one clear message for our governments: Palestinian lives matter to us and they need to matter to you. As Israel’s largest trading partner and political ally, it is our moral responsibility to send a clear signal to Netanyahu’s government that the violence must stop.”
He went on to state that: “What is happening in Palestine is a modern-day apartheid, and for Europe to turn a blind eye to that does not protect Israel: it only undermines our humanity.”"Citizens across Europe have one clear message for our governments: Palestinian lives matter to us and they need to matter to you," said Avaaz Campaign Director Christoph Schott.
"As Israel’s largest trading partner and political ally, it is our moral responsibility to send a clear signal to Netanyahu’s government that the violence must stop," he added.
The memorial was designed to greet European foreign ministers as they entered a one-day meeting to discuss the ongoing Gaza crisis and other international topics.Both the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) estimated over 4,500 people have died since the Gaza war in 2008 — a three-week armed conflict between Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
However, Avaaz said "completely precise" statistics were not available since Israel and the US blocked the UN from conducting impartial investigations on the ground.
