Days of Palestine Foundation, 16th October Group, and Act For Palestine Foundation cooperatively held a dialogue session in solidarity with Palestine in Ireland on Wednesday, July 28, 2023.
The event featured renowned international speakers, including Matt Cathy, a spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence for Sinn Féin, David Cronin, Associate Editor of the Electronic Intifada, Stella Carola, Media Officer for Palestine-Ireland Alliance, and Professor Asaad Abu Sharekh.
ring the meeting, the focus was on the crucial role of Irish support for the Palestinian cause, and participants discussed strategies to strengthen the bonds between the Irish and Palestinian communities.
Additionally, they emphasized the need to exert pressure on the Irish government to take concrete and significant actions in support of Palestine.
Irish Parlaiment’s Role
Matt Cathy expressed concern about the viability of the two-state solution, stating, “There is a genuine worry and concern that the two-state solution is becoming increasingly unviable because of the actions of the Israelis.”
The Irish Parliament has taken steps to prevent taxpayer money from being invested in companies operating within illegal settlements.
Cathy explained that they adopted Senator Francis Drag’s bill, known as “Occupied Territories,” which aims to prohibit trading with or financially supporting settlements in internationally recognized occupied territories, including illegal Israeli settlements.
“We would say the Irish people don’t want to profit from illegal settlements. We think the logical step is that we would ban the investment fund from investing in companies that are quite literally profiting from Human Rights abuses, the murder of Palestinians and innocence,” Cathy emphasized.
Furthermore, Cathy highlighted that the Irish parliament is committed to playing a substantive and constructive role in resolving the conflict and working towards the establishment of a Palestinian state where all Palestinians can enjoy their basic fundamental rights.
Palestine Inside Irish Community
Asaad Abu Sharekh, a university professor, said that the Irish people and Palestinian people share the same suffering, so there is much support from the Irish people to the Palestinians to liberate their country from Apartheid Israel.
“I am one of those refugees whose family was forcibly flown in 1948 from Palestine so I will never accept any solution which will not reinstate all Palestinian refugees and compensate them for their suffering,” He said.
He called on the European people to support the BDS movement’s activities, boycott all Israeli and pro-Israeli activities, and put pressure on their governments to cut their relations with the Israeli occupation and help Palestinians to be free.
“Palestinian people are the victim of the European zionists because those zionists who came to occupy Palestine were sent by the Europeans. All Europeans should feel guilty about what has happened to the Palestinian people,” Abu Shark pointed out.
Asaad stressed that the Israeli occupation is totally illegal and there are many international resolutions that guarantee the Palestinian people’s rights to liberate their lands, return to their homes, and end the occupation completely from their lands.
Abu Sharekh, who currently lives in Irland, called on the European people to support the BDS movement’s activities, boycott all Israeli and pro-Israeli activities, and put pressure on their governments to cut their relations with the Israeli occupation and help Palestinians to be free.
Ireland’s Foreign Policy, Its Relation With the EU
David Cronin criticized the Irish foreign minister, Michéal Martin, dubbing him “Robot Martin” due to his tendency to parrot European Union statements on Palestine with only minor adjustments, suggesting a bias against the Israeli occupation.
Cronin pointed out the glaring discrepancy in Martin’s response to the Israeli aggression on Jenin, which resulted in the largest military offensive in the West Bank in two decades, causing the death of at least 12 Palestinians, including four children.
Martin’s tweet merely referred to “troubling events in Jenin” and called for “immediate de-escalation,” avoiding any mention of the gravity of the situation.
Cronin accused Martin of misleading speech, alleging his pro-Israeli bias. He highlighted a tweet from June 21, in which Martin expressed shock at the murder of four Israelis in the West Bank while mentioning the killing of seven Palestinians in Jenin later in the same tweet.
Despite previously supporting the Occupied Territories Bill, which aimed to prohibit imports from Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights, Martin changed his stance during his recent term as Taoiseach.
The bill, officially known as the Occupied Territories Bill, had passed with a significant majority in Ireland’s parliament, Oireachtas. However, in 2020, Martin claimed that implementing the bill was not feasible due to EU law.
The Role of Irish Organizations in Advocating Palestine
Stella Carol emphasized that Ireland stands firmly behind Palestine and the Palestinian people’s struggle, evident in the numerous Pro-Palestinian organizations present in the country.
With over 30 such organizations, the largest being the Ireland-Palestine Support Committee, they are actively working across the nation.
Carol, a part of the Ireland-Palestine Alliance, aims to alter the government’s approach towards the oppressive Gaza siege and the ongoing Israeli occupation crimes in the West Bank.
The alliance advocates for Ireland to take a leading role in addressing Israeli violations of Human Rights and International Law.
Highlighting the solidarity, 1,523 Irish musicians, actors, and artists have pledged to boycott the Israeli occupation in response to a call from Palestinian civil society.
“Recently, 21 Irish pro-Palestinian groups have come together to make a coalition against Israeli Apartheid,” Carol said, adding that Israel’s Apartheid can be seen in action from the river to the sea.
According to Carol, Israel’s Apartheid is visible in various aspects, from the blockade of Gaza to the unequal treatment of Arabs in occupied territories and the West Bank, manifesting in permit systems, roads, schools, and daily life.
In conclusion, Carol expressed gratitude to the session organizers for providing an opportunity to establish connections between Ireland and Gaza.
The speakers, organizers, and participants were united in their stance against the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime, calling for expanded pro-Palestine efforts to push both peoples and governments to take concrete actions toward a just resolution to the Palestinian issue.
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