Al Quds hospital 2009
Special Rapporteur criticises Irish
government on Gaza
Fifteen years ago this month I led a
Sinn Féin delegation on a visit to the occupied Palestinian
territories. Our visit took place seven weeks after Israel’s assault on
Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009. In that attack Israeli
forces killed 1400 Palestinians, including more than 400 children and injured
thousands more. Schools and hospitals and infrastructure were also
targeted.
Our delegation was impressed by the
resilience of those we met and especially by the medical staff who were
working hard to provide a health service, despite Israeli restrictions on
medicines and spare parts for radiation and other medical equipment.
Fifteen years later and all of those
places we visited then, from the Islamic University, to the Al Quds hospital,
to the Al Shifa hospital, to the local Council offices, to schools, factories
and homes have been obliterated by Israeli forces in the last six months. On
Monday, after two weeks of bombarding and besieging Al Shifa hospital, Israeli
forces withdrew. They left behind a scene of utter devastation. Hundreds dead
and the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, is in ruins. The wards full of
patients that I visited - the radiation centre where those with cancer were
treated - are all gone. They have been smashed into rubble. The Gazan Health
Ministry said: "Dozens of bodies, some of them decomposed, have
been recovered from in and around the Al-Shifa medical complex which is now
completely out of service."
The scale of devastation in Gaza is
beyond anything witnessed in war in recent decades. Over 30,000 killed. Almost
15,000 children dead. Most of Gaza destroyed beyond repair. And the
deliberate starvation of the Gazan population is now part of the Israeli
state’s war strategy.
Last week, in a scathing report
- Anatomy of a Genocide – United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca
Albanese examined the crime of genocide as perpetrated by the State of Israel.
In the conclusion to her lengthy and detailed report Albanese states that
the “overwhelming nature and scale of Israel's assault on Gaza and the
destructive conditions of life” it has imposed on the Palestinian
people “reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a
group.”
The UN Special Rapporteur concludes
that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold
indicating the commission of the following acts of genocide against
Palestinians in Gaza has been met.” She identifies these grounds as “killing
members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to groups’ members;
and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part. Genocidal acts were
approved and given effect following statements of genocidal intent issued by
senior military and government officials.”
The Special Rapporteur also condemns
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for 7 October and calls for
the release of all hostages.
As Israel continues to claim that it
is abiding by international human rights law the Special Rapporteur accuses it
of distorting that law to treat Palestinians and their infrastructure as
‘terrorist’ or ‘terrorist-supporting.’ This allows Israel and its allies to
justify its actions on the basis that everyone living in Gaza is “either
a target or collateral damage, hence killable or destroyable. In this way, no
Palestinian in Gaza is safe by definition.”
On a visit to the University of
Galway just before the publication of her report Francesca Albanese was critical
of the Irish government’s stance on Gaza. She said: “There’s this tendency
to be very supportive with rhetoric, as Ireland has, but when it comes to
taking concrete actions, there is zero. Not a little. Zero. The countries that
have been most outspoken, like Ireland, what have they done in practice?
Nothing. And this is shameful. It is disgraceful.”
The subsequent decision by the Irish
government to intervene in the case initiated by South Africa against
Israel under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice is a
welcome step but it will take months to come to a conclusion. In the meantime
the genocide continues. The government needs to do more. It should
immediately:
• Enact the Illegal Israeli
settlements divestment bill
• Enact the Occupied Territories Bill.
• Use every possible sanction available domestically and step
up efforts to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement.
• Recognise the state of Palestine.
In addition the government should
implement the recommendations in the Anatomy of a Genocide Report including:
· Support for an arms embargo on Israel.
· Ensure a thorough, independent and transparent investigation of all
violations of international law committed by all actors, including those
amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide,
including:
· Refer the situation in Palestine to the ICC immediately, in support of
its ongoing investigation;
· Ensure that Israel, as well as States who have been complicit in the
Gaza genocide, acknowledge the colossal harm done, commit to non-repetition,
with measures for prevention, full reparations, including the full cost of the
reconstruction of Gaza, for which the establishment of a register of damage
with an accompanying verification and mass claims process is recommended.
Across Ireland and internationally
Easter time is an occasion when Irish people celebrate the courage and
determination of those women and men who over many generations fought for Irish
freedom and self-determination. This year solidarity with the Palestinian
people was a major part of every commemoration. We are confident in and
grateful for, but not complacent about the progress made by our struggle. We
have a lot more to do to win our freedom but win it we will. When we do we will
continue to keep faith with the struggle in Palestine because we
know that Ireland’s freedom will be incomplete without the freedom of
the Palestinians.
Lá Breithe Áras Uí Chonghaile
Áras Uí Chonghaile, the James Connolly
Visitor Centre, on the Falls Road celebrated its fifth birthday at
Easter. Located in the very heart of West Belfast’s Gaeltacht
Quarter it was opened five years ago by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins
and Labour and Trade Union leaders from Ireland, the USA, Canada, England,
Wales and Scotland.
I frequently visit the Áras, as it is
affectionately known. It celebrates the life and times of Labour leader James
Connolly who was executed by the British for his part in the 1916 Easter
Rising. It commemorates the key role he played in the struggle for workers
rights, the Labour movement and Irish freedom.
It is also a world class visitor
centre exploring the life of Connolly through a unique interactive exhibition,
a library of writings by and about Connolly, historical objects relating to
Connolly and that period of our history and it hosts a year round of
engagements with communities schools and visitors. It also has a café which
provides a really nice cup of coffee. In the last five years Áras Uí
Chonghaile has welcomed eighty thousand visitors from all parts of the world
and thousands more have attended its debates, discussion, music and film
events.
Visitors include former President
Mary McAleese; First Minister Michelle O’Neill; actor, Adrian Dunbar;
journalist, Michael Portillo; historian, David Olusogai and trade union leader,
Mick Lynch. Trade union support has come from even further afield as well, as
Director of Fáilte FeirsteThiar, Harry Connolly, noted:
‘Without our brothers and sisters in
the North American Trade Union movement, Áras Uí Chonghaile | The James
Connolly Visitor Centre, simply wouldn’t exist. Our long standing advocates and
friends, General President Emeritus of Liuna, Terry O’Sullivan and John
Samuelsen, General President of the Transport Workers Union, provided support
from the very beginning. Connolly’s legacy of internationalism and workers’
solidarity, on both sides of the Atlantic, is still felt today.
We are extremely grateful for this
support and will continue to preserve Connolly’s legacy! This September Brent
Booker General President LIUNA will lead a delegation made up of US Trade Union
leaders to Ireland that will build on existing links and partnerships.’
Northern Minister for the Economy
Conor Murphy formally launched ‘An Scéal go Dtí Seo – The Story so Far- a
report by Áras detailing its first five successful years. He said: “The
Centre is a shining beacon of what neighbourhood tourism and community wealth
building can be.”
Comhgairdheas to all of the team on
this important milestone.
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