UNPUBLISHED LETTERS SENT TO ALL THREE IRISH BROADSHEETS ON PALESTINE
BDS AS A PRECURSOR TO LASTING JUSTICE AND PEACE FOR PALESTINIANS
PALESTINIANS UNITED ACROSS ALL OF PALESTINE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES
Sir,
the ceasefire in the latest escalation of horrific violence between Palestinians and Israelis is most welcome. Now Israelis can revert to their peaceful lives of ignoring the existence of their fellow human beings whose lands they occupy while Palestinians will continue to experience the slow violence of occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, siege and the denial of their basic human rights.
This has to change and one senses from the resistance across all of Palestine and the worldwide solidarity that there is a new awakening. Boycott Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) is the most appropriate form of civil society solidarity we can offer and the Irish Government, institutions and corporations should now adopt this policy as a precursor to lasting justice and peace for the Palestinians.
Yours etc.
JIM ROCHE,
PRO Irish Anti-War Movement,
PO Box 9260,
Dublin 1.
Tel: 087 6472737
Sir,
right wing Israeli mobs, emboldened by ultranationalist rhetoric from reactionary Israeli politicians, are attacking indigenous Palestinians in their homes and on the streets in Lydda, Acre, Haifa, and other cities within 1948 Israel. Palestinians within Israel, for so long subdued, out of sight and out of mind of the dominant Israeli body politic are awakened to their own plight and that of their oppressed fellow Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem and in Gaza as was witnessed by their solidarity strike and continued protests this week.
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS SENT TO ALL THREE IRISH BROADSHEETS ON PALESTINE
BDS AS A PRECURSOR TO LASTING JUSTICE AND PEACE FOR PALESTINIANS
PALESTINIANS UNITED ACROSS ALL OF PALESTINE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES
Sir,
the ceasefire in the latest escalation of horrific violence between Palestinians and Israelis is most welcome. Now Israelis can revert to their peaceful lives of ignoring the existence of their fellow human beings whose lands they occupy while Palestinians will continue to experience the slow violence of occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, siege and the denial of their basic human rights.
This has to change and one senses from the resistance across all of Palestine and the worldwide solidarity that there is a new awakening. Boycott Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) is the most appropriate form of civil society solidarity we can offer and the Irish Government, institutions and corporations should now adopt this policy as a precursor to lasting justice and peace for the Palestinians.
Yours etc.
JIM ROCHE,
PRO Irish Anti-War Movement,
PO Box 9260,
Dublin 1.
Tel: 087 6472737
Sir,
right wing Israeli mobs, emboldened by ultranationalist rhetoric from reactionary Israeli politicians, are attacking indigenous Palestinians in their homes and on the streets in Lydda, Acre, Haifa, and other cities within 1948 Israel. Palestinians within Israel, for so long subdued, out of sight and out of mind of the dominant Israeli body politic are awakened to their own plight and that of their oppressed fellow Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem and in Gaza as was witnessed by their solidarity strike and continued protests this week.
This courageous challenge to the normality of the privilege of Jewish supremacy within Israel by a group so long disenfranchised and subjected to discriminatory laws has shocked Israeli leaders. Meanwhile the Israeli state forces are barely indistinguishable from the Zionist mobs that they protect, recalling historian Robert Kee’s observations about the RUC and Protestant mobs in Derry in 1969.
Perhaps a Derry ’69 moment is happening across colonised Palestine. Actions by international solidarity groups that bring pressure on western governments to finally sanction Israel’s barbarity and impunity are essential to help the Palestinians achieve their long deserved human rights, justice and peace. We must not let it take another 30 years.
Yours etc.
JIM ROCHE,
PRO Irish Anti-War Movement,
PO Box 9260,
Dublin 1.
