Tag Archives: Palestine

THOUSANDS of people from all over Ireland attended a protest against the US military use of Shannon Airport this afternoon. From early in the afternoon Gardai closed off the main road to and from the airport, but entry and departure was faciliated by alternative routes. This evening Shannon Airport released a statement which said that access had been maintained throughout the afternoon and operations were not affected. Earlier this year protestors had staged a sit down protest which blocked all traffic from entering or leaving for a period of time, but Gardai were prepared today, and the same issues did not arise, despite a huge number of protestors attending. From early in the afternoon there were cars and buses parked all over Drumgeely, such was the attendance. Some residents were understandably put out at the inconvenience caused by the huge numbers taking over all available parking spaces in a part of the town where there are many older people. Protestors …

THE artist behind a striking new mural in Ennis created in reaction to the ongoing crisis in Palestine has said she wants the artwork to be a symbol of hope. Rachel Macmanus, who has painted a number of murals throughout the town as part of the ‘Negative Space Art Collective’, recently unveiled her latest large scale work at Moran’s Carpark. The imagery for the new mural was created using a Unicef photograph of Palestinian children for reference with Rachel surrounding them with symbolic images of keys and doves. The painting was created by Rachel on behalf of People Of Clare Against Genocide. Rachel said, “It was my honour to paint this mural. The relentless horror and destruction we see daily and have seen for months and months now is hard to process and the feelings of helplessness and anger make us all feel powerless and despairing. Like many people I felt helpless and was becoming desensitised to the relentless awful …

AN Ennis man who has been held at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers in Hebron, witnessing first hand what it is like for those living in Palestine, is among the organisers of a protest by EU civil servants in Brussels calling out the “inaction” of the bloc. Manus Carlisle, who grew up in Roslevan, and describes himself as a “proud Clare man” is an organiser of the ‘EU Staff for Peace & Justice’ campaign in Brussels. The campaign is made up of a large group of EU civil servants “who have been horrified by the violence taking place in Palestine and the inaction of the European Union in the face of the violence”, he explains. The group have collected over 1,700 signatures from EU civil servants expressing their growing concern over the ongoing crisis in Gaza. They have also demonstrated outside of their workplaces in the EU institutions in Brussels demanding an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza, for the EU and …

    A group of East Clare volunteers have united to join in the Waterford Gaeltacht initiative Solas do Pháistí- Light for Children of Gaza this Wednesday night at 9.30pm. People are invited to participate in lighting a candle at playgrounds in Scariff, Mountshannon , Feakle and Quin after sunset, in support of their campaign to light up Ireland to remember the many thousands of children who have been killed, maimed and orphaned by Israel in Gaza. This May 1st vigil has been organised to show the children of Palestine that they have not been forgotten or abandoned by the world. Participants are urged to post a photograph or short video on the night and to share this on social media, using the hashtag #GaeilArSonGaza The aim is to make Ireland glow and to show love and support for the children of Gaza. Participants will light a candle and pledge a donation on a GoFundMe page. More than €10,000 has …

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 …

CLARE Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe has tendered his resignation from the Ireland-Israel parliamentary friendship committee in protest against Israeli state aggression in the disputed Gaza Strip/West Bank region and in solidarity with those impacted by this action. “I have contacted the Ceann Comhairle’s office this afternoon to inform him of my intentions to resign from the Ireland-Israel parliamentary friendship committee with immediate effect,” said Deputy Crowe. “I am doing so in protest against continued Israeli aggression and incursions into disputed parts of the Gaza Strip. “In recent days, there has been a huge escalation of violence in the Gaza area with rockets being fired by both militant fighters on the Palestinian side and the Israeli Armed Forces. “I don’t condone what either side is doing but I think the root cause of this latest ignition of violence has been works to create a new Israeli settlement in the disputed land earlier this month. “The Israeli government has acted very …

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 …

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 …