LEAKS EXPOSE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE PALESTINIANS
IRISH ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT Press Release – January 26, 2011
In a statement, the Irish Anti-War Movement has commended the people of the Middle East for rising up against their authoritarian governments, for demanding democracy and social equality.
In an act of sacrifice and determination the people of Tunisia rose in unison to call for an end to unemployment, poverty and media censorship. They have managed to topple the dictator, Ben Ali, and continue struggling to purge those members of the old regime still clinging to power. That revolution has encouraged mass protests in Jordan, Algeria and Egypt where people are no longer willing to put up with joblessness, poverty and dictatorial regimes.
LEAKS EXPOSE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE PALESTINIANS
IRISH ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT Press Release – January 26, 2011
In a statement, the Irish Anti-War Movement has commended the people of the Middle East for rising up against their authoritarian governments, for demanding democracy and social equality.
In an act of sacrifice and determination the people of Tunisia rose in unison to call for an end to unemployment, poverty and media censorship. They have managed to topple the dictator, Ben Ali, and continue struggling to purge those members of the old regime still clinging to power. That revolution has encouraged mass protests in Jordan, Algeria and Egypt where people are no longer willing to put up with joblessness, poverty and dictatorial regimes.
January 25th saw the largest Egyptian mass mobilization in decades. Thousands of protestors, across various cities of the Arab world’s largest country chanted: "Down, down, Hosni Mubarak!" For the most part they were met with tear gas and water canons but in some cases the very same policemen whose job it was to disperse them joined in the demonstrations. More protests are planned for the coming days.
The Irish Anti-War Movement is currently planning a solidarity demonstration with the Middle Eastern democracy protesters at the Egyptian embassy in the next week.
Richard Boyd Barrett, chair of IAWM said:
"It is when the people of the Middle East rise up to demand social justice that democratization can spread in the region, and not when the West bombs millions of innocents under the pretext of installing democracy."
He noted:
"The Western allies who claim to be the champions of democracy in the region have been remarkably silent on the ousting of Ben Ali in Tunisia and now again on the mass protests in Egypt. The reason they are silent is because they are not in favour of allowing democracies to flourish, as that would challenge their economic hold on the region. Indeed the silence of the Western powers at this historic moment in the region’s call for civil liberties highlights the hypocrisy of their position. It is clear that their policies have nothing to do with democracy and have everything to do with siphoning off resources and protecting their corrupt allies. The oil-rich Middle East has borne the brunt of these parasitic policies at an intense level, but the economic crisis is now spreading in the Western world also, where the same elites exploit working people here. In that regard we should be very inspired by the events in the Middle East as an example of people power challenging greedy politicians and corrupt elites. In Ireland we need to challenge the very same system of exploitation that feeds off the hard work of ordinary people."
In related news this week, US complicity in Israeli expansionism, and the desperate acquiescence of the Palestinian leadership to Israeli demands for Palestinian land were exposed via Al-Jazeera in a wikileaks-style document dubbed the Palestine Papers.
The Irish Anti-War Movement is dismayed at the Palestine Papers’ revelations which unveil the extensive compromises that the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership in Ramallah was prepared to make at the expense of the ordinary people of Palestine and the millions of stateless Palestinian refugees in exile.
The Palestine Papers reveal that US brokered negotiations between Israel and the PA have been extremely biased in favour of Israel. Some of the shocking concessions apparently made by the PA and nevertheless rejected by Israel are:
- in a 2007 draft for a "Permanent Status Agreement" the PA proposed that the number of refugees allowed to return would be capped at 10,000 per year for ten years. Israel nevertheless rejected this offer and proposed a return of only 1,000 refugees per year for ten years.
- the PA seem to have offered the Israelis much of East Jerusalem
- the PA accepted, under Israeli pressure, that a future Palestinian state would not have an army, air force or navy and that therefore it would lack sovereignty over its own territory. Even then, the Israelis kept demanding more.
Other revelations tell of how Tzipi Livni, former Israeli Foreign Minister, admitted: "Israel takes more land [so] that the Palestinian state will be impossible," referring to the continued building of Israeli settlements on occupied land. She conceded that it had been "the policy of the government for a really long time".
More shocking still, in 2008 the US suggested that Palestinian refugees be transferred to Argentina and Chile. Palestinians have expressed alarm and disillusion at the US suggestion to settle Palestinian refugees in South America instead of letting them return to the homes from which they were expelled in 1948 and again in 1967.
Richard Boyd Barrett said: "The recent revelations confirm once again that the Oslo agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians were unfair, they made too many demands of the Palestinians and virtually no enforceable demands of Israel."
"The Palestine Papers highlight the importance of restoring democracy for the Palestinians and allowing them to choose a government that will honestly represent their cause. The last time the Palestinians voted for a leadership in open and transparent elections in 2006, their chosen party was vetoed by the US and Israel because it would not capitulate to their interests in the way the current puppet government has."
Jim Roche, IAWM PRO added: "The leaked papers show that Israel was never interested in peace and only wanted to bully the PA into making yet more concessions against the interests of the Palestinian people. It exposes the so-called ‘peace process’ for the charade that it is. This is why it is so important for civil society around the world to keep up the pressure on Governments to stop Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian lands. In this context the second international flotilla to Gaza in a few months time, in which an Irish ship will participate, is totally justified."
The Irish Anti-War Movement calls on the Irish government to support the four million stateless Palestinians in occupied Palestine and the nearly five million Palestinian refugees in their quest for citizenship in their native land. We call on the Irish government to cut all ties with Israel until that country abolishes its apartheid policies and stops its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. "
For more info/confirmation
Jim Roche (IAWM PRO) 087 6472737
Richard Boyd Barrett (Chair) 086-7814520
