Car Tourismo Banner
Home » Tag Archives: Gaza

Tag Archives: Gaza

Free Miltown screening of GAZA to raise money for UNWRA

Clare Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign Clare (IPSC) is organising another opportunity to catch a free screening of the film GAZA, this time at the Miltown Malbay Community Centre on Tuesday, March 5 at 8pm. The film which was released in 2019, was directed and produced by two Irish men, Andrew McConnell and Garry Keane. GAZA describes the unique world, rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us an inspiring portrait of a people, living with hope and leading meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict between 2014 and 2018. The award–winning film has real value as a compassionate human document, showing ordinary people who courageously have to keep going, somehow, in what then seemed like the grimmest of conditions, in a world where there is a “wall between the people of Gaza and life itself”. The directors bring us a revealing film showing the common frustration at living an abnormal life, under siege. You will meet, amongst others, a young …

Read More »

Free screening of Gaza this evening in the Courthouse Gallery

The Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon will host a screening of the documentary Gaza this Friday, December 15, at 8pm. The film, released in 2019, was directed and produced by Irish men Andrew McConnell and Garry Keane. The award–winning film documents the real lives of people living in Gaza, showing how ordinary people courageously have to keep going in the grimmest of conditions, in a world where there is a “wall between the people of Gaza and life itself”. The film features, amongst others, a young cellist, a young rapper, a theatre director, a fisherman and his son, a taxi driver and an ambulance driver as they share their stories, daily experiences and their hopes for the future. Simple aspirations, which people living in Ireland might take for granted, are quashed on a daily basis. Wildcard Distribution, who own the screening rights to the film, have waived the license fees for these charity screenings and welcome people to arrange more screenings. …

Read More »

Now more than ever, words matter

Historian Dr Tomás Mac Conmara writes about his time in Palestine considering recent events in Gaza. Over recent weeks, as events in Gaza unfolded, I listened carefully to the words of many. Words of Israelis. Words of Palestinians. Media words. Words of an American President. Words of European leaders and of course, words of those in political leadership in Ireland. All these words are important. Words matter and words spoken at such times matter intensely. Words form stories and stories form narratives. Narratives form impressions. When unchallenged, they can sometimes become the truth. For much of the western media, events in Gaza commenced on 7th October. This of course is not the case. In 2011, after many years of instinctive support for the Palestinian cause, I made the decision to travel there. I had read many books and studied the history of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Yet I still understood little. I have always lived according to the principle …

Read More »

Breen to chair meeting on Gaza crisis

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, under the chairmanship of Deputy Pat Breen, will convene tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss the current situation in Gaza. Mr Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, will appear before the Committee. Mr Sourani is a prominent human rights lawyer from Gaza, and has been working for human rights in the region since 1977. He will provide committee members with an update of the current situation in Gaza, and will discuss issues of accountability for violations of international law in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has a deep interest in the situation in Gaza and committee members are keen to ensure that Ireland continues to make a positive contribution to what is a very challenging situation,” the Clare Fine Gael TD said. “This meeting affords us a valuable opportunity to receive a first hand account of the current situation in Gaza, whose inhabitants face many difficulties …

Read More »

Boycott a catalyst for change

THE recent boycott of Israeli goods by Kinvara businesses has been a catalyst for change elsewhere and was a welcome show of solidarity with the people of Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland, Ahmad Abdelrazek. His Excellency Mr Abdelrazek was in the South Galway village with his wife, Rania Abdullah, on Friday to acknowledge the collective action taken by the pharmacy, retailers, restaurants, cafés and salons there, in response to the bombardment of Gaza last month. The boycott was the brainchild of John Griffin, Frank Naughton and Vicky Donnelly, who guided the couple around the village during their short visit, introducing them to business people and members of the community. His Excellency Mr Abdelrazek was welcomed by those who met him and even gave an impromptu address to the busy Kinvara Farmers’ Market. In an interview with The Clare Champion, the ambassador stated that people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were aware of the move …

Read More »

Clare IPSC to host Arab Jewish author

THE Clare branch of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign will have a public meeting next Tuesday with guest speaker Smadar Lavie. Ms Lavie is from Israel and is an anthropologist, professor and author whose mother’s family are Jewish Arabs from Yemen, while her fahter’s people are Jews from Lithuania. She is an ardent activist against racism towards Palestinians and Jews of Arab descent in Israel. Based at the University of California Berkeley, she has written or co-authored four books. Speaking in advance of her visit to Clare, Ms Lavie said that Israeli society is quite fractured between Jews of European descent, called Ashkenazi Jews, and Jews of Middle Eastern descent, or Mizrahi Jews. “Fifty per cent of the population are Jews from the Muslim and Arab world, from the margin of the Ottoman Empire, like Bulgaria or Turkey or the former Yugoslavia. Only 30% are Jews from Europe. However there are less than one per cent women professors who are of Mizrahi …

Read More »

World Humanitarian Day

On World Humanitarian Day (this Tuesday), UNICEF said that the increase in humanitarian crises must not be allowed to decrease our common sense of humanity. The international children’s organisation has called for greater protection for the aid workers who risk their lives responding to emergencies like those in Gaza, South Sudan, Iraq and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. UNICEF Ireland has also asked the public to think of the Irish heroes who dedicate their lives, often in dangerous circumstances, to work for world’s most vulnerable children. “Brave aid workers endure harsh conditions and risk harm to save lives, rebuild communities, and bear witness in conflicts, catastrophes, and crises. As emergencies from South Sudan to Gaza have increased in both frequency and complexity, so too has the dangerous nature of the work and the loss of life,” said Peter Power, executive director, UNICEF Ireland. In the last month alone: * Humanitarian workers have been killed by armed fighters in South …

Read More »

Overwhelming response to Kinvara’s Israeli goods boycott

The group behind Kinvara’s business boycott of Israeli goods has described the response to the collective move as “overwhelming”. Just over a week ago, three local people, inspired by the images of Gaza on their television screens, decided to approach businesses in the area to see if they would take part in a boycott of Israeli goods. Since the boycott was announced in last Thursday’s Clare Champion, John Griffin, Frank Naughton and Vicky Donnelly have been inundated with support locally, nationally and even internationally. “The response has been overwhelming. We were really taken aback from the level of the response and the good feeling from the article and on social media. It seems to have really hit a chord with people,” Ms Donnelly said. “All three of us have been approached by people in the community who are delighted to see an action like this happening here. We have received messages of support across social media and even by phone. …

Read More »