St George’s Cathedral Dean Father Michael Weeder has started a fast in solidarity with the people of Palestine and as a call for a sustained and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
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The fast began yesterday, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and the church’s weekly vigils in solidarity with the people of Palestine were held on the cathedral steps, which are frequently used as a site of solidarity and protest.
A number of demonstrations took place across the country yesterday in solidarity with Palestine, calling for an end to the ‘occupation and genocide’ and a permanent ceasefire.
While Qatar, Egypt and the United States mediated a four-day humanitarian pause last Friday morning, and a two-day extension was later announced on Monday, global mobilisations for a permanent ceasefire continue.
According to the NGO Save the Children, the fragile pause allowed the release of 58 hostages from Gaza as well as 117 Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons, including 87 minors.
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Despite the pause, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) violence continued in the West Bank and Gaza, killing seven Palestinians, including four children.
During the pause, the IDF also opened fire and threw tear gas at people attempting to return to their homes in northern Gaza, killing one and injuring several.
While 117 Palestinian children and women were released from Israeli military detention, at least 112 more Palestinians were detained in the West Bank, according to the NGO.
Weeder will spend some nights sleeping in the cathedral’s Link section to make the intention and call for peace visible.
Speaking to IOL, he stated that the plan was to fast until December 20–22 and that this would be reviewed on the 15th anniversary of his ordination as a priest.
‘Prayer, in all our faith traditions, is the most basic way that a human being can aspire to be hopeful, to lament what is wrong, and also to protest to the highest of heavens – this is too much,’ Weeder said.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa passed a resolution in September declaring Israel to be an apartheid state.
The resolution supported the National Executive Committee of the South African Council of Churches’ decision to declare Israel an apartheid state.
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Health workers picket for Palestine outside Red Cross Children’s Hospital
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