Tag Archives: Gaza

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

Businesses and consumers in Kinvara have taken a collective stand against Israel’s actions in Gaza by pledging to support the growing boycott of Israeli produce. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign said they were unaware of any other town or village that had taken this type of united action. The idea for the campaign emerged from numerous conversations at a local level, about what ordinary people could do to help end the bloodshed in Gaza. The subsequent appeal to local businesses was led by John Griffin, Frank Naughton and Vicky Donnelly, three members of the Kinvara community. “Like most people, we were sickened by the carnage we were seeing on our screens and felt helpless to do anything, until we decided to approach all the relevant businesses in our community to support the boycott of Israeli produce. The fact that we’ve had such a positive response sends out a strong message of solidarity,” John Griffin explained. According to Vicky, the campaign …

A South Galway village has become the first in the country to unite against Israel’s military action in Gaza. Kinvara’s business community agreed this week to operate a boycott of Israeli goods, in protest against the “ongoing bombardment” of Gaza. According to the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), Kinvara is the first and only town in Ireland to take this collective action. “As far as I know, this is the first town to do this. Maybe there are other towns that have done it and haven’t told us but it is likely they would. We salute and congratulate the people of Kinvara for taking this stand for justice for Palestinians. We hope other towns and villages around the country will emulate them and take a similar stand,” said Kevin Squires, co-ordinator of the IPSC. Mr Squires also described boycotting Israeli products as “an effective and peaceful way to bring pressure to bear on the Israeli state to end its occupation …