OVER 400 people were killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza on Tuesday, in the deadliest day there since 2023.
Finbarr MacGabhann of the Clare branch of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign said Israel has not lived up to its own ceasefire commitments.
“We never saw the full implementation of the first phase of the agreement. The aid trucks weren’t allowed in, the shelters that were agreed weren’t allowed,” he said.
“Basically it became clear at a very early stage that Israel were interested in getting their hostages back and they weren’t interested in fulfilling their part of the bargain at all.
“In negotiations they pushed for an extension of the first phase. They are the only ones that still have to implement anything from it, the Palestinians have already done what they were supposed to do, but they want to extend the phase, get more of the hostages back but still not doing the things they were supposed to do under phase one.
“There have been horrendous scenes. There has been concern around the stability of the ceasefire because of the Israeli behaviour and the things they were saying, they’ve said outright that they’ll fulfil phase one, get their hostages back, then it’ll be back to war, that they’ll ethnically cleanse Gaza.
“But for it to break down in the way that it did, while talks were still underway in Qatar, and for it to be done in such a horrendous manner… That came as a complete shock.”
Protests against Israel will continue in Clare for the foreseeable future, he added.
“Absolutely, and not just our group, other groups also. We had gone to monthly marches and rallies for the duration of the ceasefire, obviously that’s gone now,” he said.
“People of Clare against Genocide will have a vigil in the Market Square on Saturday, there was a bridge vigil last night at the Club Bridge, and there are a number of other events planned as well. We have our next one on the 29th. We will continue to protest and campaign.”
He said that the application of economic pressure is the most effective tool available.
“The most important thing is continuing to promote the boycott campaign against Israel. It’s a peaceful and democratic way for people around the world to have their say, economically boycott Israel until they comply with international law, just like we did with South Africa. It’s the only mechanism that ordinary people have available to them, and we’ve got to utilise it to its maximum.
“People often say that America and Britain and Germany back the Israelis, but these same countries backed South Africa.
“People say Israel is of strategic importance; well South Africa had oil and gold, it was famous for gold, it had coal and all sorts of resources.
“At the end of the day people power demanded justice and we got justice.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.