Dutch activist stages solitary protest against Israeli persecution

A Dutch activist has been taking to the streets alone in Amsterdam for over four years to protest Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people. In a one-person demonstration, Simon Vrouwe, wearing a yellow jacket that has "Free Palestine" and "Boycott Israel" written on it, is denouncing Israeli aggression and Dutch government's policies towards Israel. "What I've been doing is not about anti-semitism," Vrouwe told Anadolu Agency. "I am holding a protest here at Dam Square due to my love and respect for Palestinians." Vrouwe said he held over 500 demonstrations by himself in four-and-a-half years so far. Terming the situation in Gaza as "atrocity," he said: "We need to do something against this situation. We need to raise awareness on what happening in Palestine. It is not enough to hold a protest few times a year." He is also handing out leaflets to inform people about the situation in the region and is opening up a map showing Palestinian loss of land from 1946 to today. Despite some Israeli sides, people generally welcome his protest, Vrouwe said. "A former Israeli soldier has always been disturbing me at Dam Square for two-and-a-half years," he said. "This is an unpleasant incident." Despite everything, the Dutch activist says, he will continue his demonstrations. For the last nine months, Palestinians in Gaza have been staging regular demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone to demand the right to return to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948. They also demand an end to Israel's 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave's economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities. Since the rallies began on March 30, more than 210 Palestinians have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.