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A STRIKING hand-knitted International Quilt of Resistance, commemorating thousands of Palestinian children killed in Gaza, was unfurled through Omagh town centre on Saturday as part of a nationwide campaign highlighting the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Around 100 volunteers unravelled the quilt from the Community House on Drumragh Avenue to the steps of the Oasis Plaza.
The quilt, designed by ‘Craftivism for Palestine’, is made from thousands of hand knitted squares, each representing ten children killed in Gaza.
Spokesperson for the Omagh Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Anton McCabe, said, “This blanket was put on show on Saturday to remind Omagh that the Slaughter in Gaza is still ongoing.
“The so-called ceasefire has not made any significant, real difference to the people in Gaza who are being murdered. “This (quilt) just shows the hypocrisy, not just of Israel and America, but of all the Western powers,” Mr McCabe said.
Niamh Bonner, who was part of the original designing of the quilt, said her mission is to showcase the blanket in all counties across Ireland.
“The idea behind the blanket was that we wanted to make a visual representation of the numbers of children killed in Gaza. Originally we had made it so each square represented ten children… but as we were making it the numbers passed the thousands in squares.
“We stopped at 2,000 squares to reveal it to the Dáil … We’ve since stopped at 3,000 because it has become difficult to transport the quilt and the killings keep continuing,” said Niamh.
“To date we have been to 28 counties, with Monaghan on Sunday, and our goal is to reach all 32 counties before the end of February.”
