PRESS RELEASE: galway alliance against war
PRESS RELEASE: galway alliance against war
If we were to believe Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern then Treasa N Cheanabh in bore personal responsibility for not being allowed to leave Gaza and enter Egypt, presumably because she had entered Gaza illegally , as reported disapprovingly by RTE.
However, if we look closer at the whole issue of the strangulation of Gaza by the Israelis in January, we begin to see that the EU and therefore Dermot Ahern and the Irish Government bear responsibility not Treasa N Cheanabh in. Indeed, it helps to explain why Dublin and Brussels remained silent as the poor Palestinian incarcerated in Gaza were cut off entirely from the outside world.
David Morrison writing in the February edition of the Belfast-based Labour & Trade Union Review has forensically examined how the Gaza crossing into Egypt came into being. He shows that back on 15th November 2005 there was a comprehensive Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). There would be a crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah controlled by the PA and Egypt on terms set out in the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing Point (APRC).
At the time this agreement was hailed as an historic step on the road to a Palestinian state. Attending the announcement of the agreement along with Condoleeza Rice in Jerusalem, the EU s chief of foreign affairs, Javier Solana, claimed that: This is the first time that a border is opened and not controlled by the Israelis .
If this had been true the Israelis would not have been able to strangle Gaza throughout the month of January. In fact, from the very outset the agreement prohibited the movement of commercial traffic into Gaza from Egypt. As David Morrison points out, although Israel has no physical presence – apart from CCTV – it has been able to close the crossing at will, just as it can close the four crossings between Gaza and Israel.
This has come about because, under the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing Point (APRC), a Third Party must have personnel present at the Rafah crossing before it is allowed to open. The Third Party is the EU and the EU has always refused to man the crossing when Israel didn t want the crossing open. The EU established the EU Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing Point, and contrary to the agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel, adopted the view that the Israelis could have a veto over the opening of the crossing – so much for Javier Solana s grandiose claim that the border was not controlled by the Israelis .
Since the 9th June 2007 the crossing has been closed completely in response to Hamas taking control of Gaza. And according to Human Rights Watch since January of this year by imposing its blockade – with the collusion of the EU, including Ireland Israel has been committing war crimes against the people of Gaza.
If the EU had opposed these war crimes it could have opened the border between Gaza and Egypt, but instead it colluded with this contravention of the Geneva Convention. Little wonder there was only silence from Minister Ahern and Javier Solana throughout this awful period.
So when on 23rd January Hamas blew up stretches of the Israeli-built border between Gaza and Egypt Treasa N Cheanabh in saw an opportunity a dangerous one at that – for herself, her daughter, Naisr n Elsafty and niece, Sehan Elhotty to cross into Gaza and dispense desperately needed funds, raised in Ireland, to orphanages, hospitals and refugee camps.
The actions of these three Good Samaritans have put to shame the Irish government, the EU and the international community.
Maith S bh Treasa, Naisr n agus Sehan!!
T s il again go bhfuil n ire ar pholaiteoir an Iarthair n thug c namh ar bith do na Pailist nigh.
