 |
| WASHINGTON:Concepcion tells her 35 years long protest story to Ashrafuddin Pirzada |
WASHINGTON: A 70-year-old Spanish-American woman, Concepcion Picciotto, who had setup a protest camp at the front of White House since 1981, has reaffirmed that she would not end her four decades long protest until and unless Israel not stop killing of innocent Palestinian citizens.
Concepcion Picciotto,told The News said she was 18-year-old and had job in Spanish Consulate in New York when realized that Israel brutally killing poor and helpless Palestinian people. Concepcion said she left the job and decided to start her protest against Israel to stop her brutalities. She said her protest would be continued until and unless Palestine was not declared as an Independent state. She said it was her desire to do something the aggrieved families who lost their near and dear ones by the Israeli atrocities.
To play her due role, Picciotto said, she setup a protesting camp at the front of White House on August 1, 1981. She said despite the slaps of hot and cold weathers during the last 35 years she also faced the rugged attitudes of the current and past US governments.
In a painful voice Picciotto said many times police forced to vacate the place she occupied at the front of White House. She said it was impossible for her to withdraw from her pledge she made with the innocent Palestinians. She said many times US marines and some homeless people severely trashed and beaten charged her.
About the wound marks on her legs Picciotto said a few years ago police badly beaten her to end her protest and leave the busy locality where hundreds of people mostly tourists daily visit to see a glimpse of White House.
When asked why the place was chosen where she was protesting since 1981, Concepcion replied that those setting in the White House have had supporting Israel. She accused US government that she saw nothing good with it but corruption and making money on the name of wars. She said US help Israell to make atomic bombs for its supremacy in the world. She alleged that World War-II fought just because for the Israel’s survival which had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Each day and night since August 1, 1981, Concepcion has been living in a small hut type of shad with a lot of banners and pictures around it. Many of the banners were inscribed with the words "Live by the bomb and die by the bomb". She said that US and Israel were making lethal weapons of mass destruction which she said a great threat to the world.
The well-committed lady said that world people were sacrificing a lot of what Israel and US were doing with the humanity but she said that it also brought awareness and strengthened social bonds among the people across the globe.
Visitors were seen paying Concepcion Picciotto one or two dollars and asking her few questions. She said the money people gave her being used on the paints and charts hanging around her tent. About her foods she said a lady brings different kinds of foods every day which she also shares it with birds setting around her tent. She said that during the last 35 years none of the president or any other high official came to listen her demands.
To a question, Concepcion Picciotto said that all the children in the world were her own kids as she was protesting to help assure their lives security and dignities. "Though I get no big achievement in my struggle so far but my voice for an Independent Palestine is echoed in the United State of America", Concepcion Picciotto said.
Concepcion Picciotto said freedom, justice and dignity of the Palestinian people was the aim of her life.
Picciotto’s face was reflecting the enthusiasm for tireless protest what she calls her "life’s work".
She said on August 1, she every year she celebrates to remind and motivate herself to continue her protest for the next year.
"Certainly I could go back to my normal life I had before but God has chosen a greater task for me", were the last remarks she told this correspondent.
No comments:
Post a Comment