March for Palestinian unity

The pulling power of peace was evident in Valletta yesterday when a small group of demonstrators calling for Palestinian unity doubled in number after they were joined by Italian students who backed their cause.

The group was led by Palestinian Sanaa El-Nahhal, from the Arabic Culture Information Society, who chanted messages of peace and unity that were echoed by the crowd behind her.

They walked from Freedom Square to the Law Courts holding Palestinian flags and banners that called for political unity between the two rival governments that had split the country for the past five years. Hamas controls Gaza while Fatah is in power in the West Bank.

The demonstration started off with about 30 people but, when they arrived in front of the courts, a group of Italian students joined and walked back to Freedom Square in solidarity with the cause.

The demonstration was meant to have taken place on Tuesday when thousands of people demonstrated across Palestinian territories, calling for political unity between their rival governments.

The protesters – who organised the event via Facebook – said they had been inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Middle East.

Ms El-Nahhal’s 20-year-old daughter, Lina, was among the demonstrators.

Although brought up in Malta, she said her mother had raised her to be “very patriotic” and she was very interested in what was going on in the country where most of her relatives still lived.

“I try to be as active as I can when it comes to Palestine-related issues and talk a lot to my friends about it,” the young woman said.