Bail o Dhia oraibh a mhuintir liom. Is deas an rud an deis cainte seo a fhail libh. I ngeall ar mo mheas fein ar an ocaid seo a shileas gurbh fhiu agaus gur dheas an rud e go mba I an Ghaeilge an chead urlabhra a tharraingeoinn chugaim fein os bhur gcomhar anseo inniu.
Gabhaim buiochas libh as an deis cainte seo agus ta suil agam go n-imreoidh mo chuid cainte oraibh, a bheagan no a mhoran agaibh agus gur chun tairbhe do mhuintir bhocht na Pailistine a rachfas se.
I thank you for the opportunity of addressing you today in the Irish language, a language that for many people in Ireland is important and indeed is an important symbol of our own colonial past and struggle for human rights and independence.
Coming here from Ireland to speak about the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is a great honour and indeed a challenge but I believe that my being here today is a great opportunity for our campaign in Ireland to link into the United States and your activities here. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign works to advance the Palestinian desire to live free from occupation, subjugation and oppression in a peaceful, pluralist secular, democratic Palestine. Trying to outline how Ireland organises for Palestinian Human Rights and indeed how Ireland reacts to the situation is complicated. It is complicated because in some regards Ireland is European and in other regards Ireland has far more in common with the United States, and it is this close relationship with the United States that the IPSC has identified as being the way to move our campaign forward. Indeed the IPSC has developed a two pronged strategy, one focuses on raising awareness on a national level in Ireland in both the political and civil society and secondly we aim to focus on the millions of Irish abroad and hope to raise awareness amongst this diaspora with a view to using the “Irish” vote in these countries.
It must be said that people in Ireland and in Europe greatly admire America not only because of the close personal and family ties but also because of the progressive nature of America in many areas. However, the one thing that overshadows all positive aspects of the US from a European perspective is American foreign policy in general and in particular American policy towards the Palestine /Israel conflict.
Irish people consider America as a friend and as such it pains us to see the path chosen by the United States in its foreign policy. Through our work in the IPSC we know that Irish people and virtually all Irish politicians support an end to the occupation, however our politicians lack the will to confront the US about its support for Israel. Our politicians are very conscious of the economic might and influence of the US and are reluctant to criticise the US. Hence Ireland has been drawn into the war in Iraq, as Shannon airport is for most US troops the last stop they make on rout to and from Iraq.
Because of our past history of occupation, Irish people readily empathise with the plight of the Palestinian people and the justice of their struggle. Due to Ireland's long standing position of neutrality and the fact that we have never invaded nor occupied any country, and our record of peacekeeping with the United Nations etc, Ireland can and is seen as an honest broker in international affairs. It is this Irish voice and reputation that we hope to use to raise awareness in the world.
Ireland as a country shares a lot with Palestine and it is this common shared history that allows people to support Palestine. Merely 200 years ago Ireland was a colony of Britain and unfree, its language was being attacked, its religion was attacked under the Penal laws. In 1840 the population of Ireland was approximately 8 million people. In the space of a decade the population was halved, due to the failure of the potato crop and the subsequent famine. However during these dark times Ireland was not a poor country, indeed Ireland continued to export food to Britain during the famine. English landlords, who centuries earlier had stolen the land, controlled the countryside and forced millions off the land, homes were demolished, lands were confiscated, over 1 million people starved to death in the countryside and millions more fled on coffin ships to the US and Australia. In the space of one decade the face of Ireland changed dramatically. The following years leading up to independence from Britain continued to show huge emigration from Ireland due to the political situation. The Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 allowed limited freedom to 26 counties and partitioned the country with 6 counties remaining under British rule. This is the situation that remains in place to this day although the south became a republic in 1949, the North in the eyes of many Irish people is still occupied. In this regards Ireland shares a common history of British rule with Palestine. It is this history which we in the IPSC now seek to use to lobby the Irish American vote in the US and the Irish diaspora across the world. Over 30 million Americans claim Irish decent, that’s 11% of the US population, which could become a very significant lobby group. Our primary goals within the IPSC in Ireland are:
These strategies are new to us and indeed being here today is part of this new strategy which were are implementing.
If I may just point out one particular issue which we feel needs to be made clear to Irish Americans. If one thinks about the right of return of Palestinians to their homes, it is appalling for us as Irish people to think that if a similar policy existed in Ireland, millions of people abroad of Irish decent would not be allowed to return to Ireland. Currently millions of Irish Americans can apply for Irish citizenship and return to Ireland. It is also worth pointing out that as I have shown the similarities between the Irish and Palestinian contexts, that the reasons many millions left Ireland are similar to the current situation in Palestine, namely land evictions, house demolitions, occupation etc. Yet currently billions of Irish Americans tax dollars are being used to reproduce the same suffering in Palestine that forced their forefathers to emigrate from Ireland to the US a hundred years ago.
In conclusion, from an Irish and European context I feel it is wonderful that I am here today, the way forward is to work in collaboration and together. The IPSC has recently become closely linked with other European based solidarity groups through participation at the Mediterranean Social Forum in Barcelona. European reaction to the cause of Palestinian human rights is great, Europeans are supportive of not only Palestinian human rights but a peaceful and secure home for Israelis but this must be based on an end to the occupation and full implementation of UN resolutions and International Law. Working together we can make a change, we have seen this in Ireland through some of our recent campaigns such as the Caterpillar Free Zone in Limerick which attracted worldwide media attention, or protests during the recent visit to the Israeli soccer team to Ireland in June. Perhaps Ireland more than other countries can understand the reality of occupation and the suffering that this causes and it is this experience and understanding that we as Irish people need to show to the world in order to end the continued suffering in Palestine.
Go raibh maith agaibh.
Thank you.