The following letter was published in a full-page advertisement in The Irish Times on 31 January 2009:
The original ad, including signatures may be downloaded here. [PDF]
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza killed over 1,300 Palestinians, a third of them children. Thousands have been wounded. Many victims had been taking refuge in clearly marked UN facilities.
This assault came in the wake of years of economic blockade by Israel. This blockade, which is illegal under international humanitarian law, has destroyed the Gaza economy and condemned its population to poverty. According to a World Bank report last September, “98 percent of Gaza’s industrial operations are now inactive.”
The most recent attack on Gaza is only the latest phase in Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people and appropriation of their land.
Israel has never declared its borders. Instead, it has continuously expanded at the expense of the Palestinians. In 1948, it took over 78 percent of Palestine, an area much larger than that suggested for a Jewish state by the UN General Assembly in 1947. Contrary to international law, Israel expelled over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. These refugees and their descendants, who now number millions, are still dispersed throughout the region. They have the right, under international law, to return to their homes. This right has been underlined by the UN General Assembly many times, starting with Resolution 194 in 1948.
In 1967, Israel occupied the remaining 22 percent of Palestine: the West Bank and Gaza. Contrary to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has built, and continues to build, settlements in these occupied territories. Today, nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the illegal settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and the number grows daily as Israel expands its settler program.
Israel has resisted pressure from the international community to abide by the human rights provisions of international law. It has refused to comply with UN Security Council demands to cease building settlements and remove those it has built (Resolutions 446, 452 and 465) and to reverse its illegal annexation of East Jerusalem (252, 267, 271, 298, 476 and 478). Since September 2000, over 5,000 Palestinians, almost 1,000 of them minors, have been killed by the Israeli military.
Eleven-thousand Palestinians, including hundreds of minors, languish in Israel jails. Hundreds are detained without trial. In addition, Israel is breaking international law by imprisoning them outside the occupied territories, thereby making it almost impossible for their families to visit them. Every year, hundreds of Palestinian homes are demolished. The Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza livesw imprisoned by walls, barriers and checkpoints that prevent or impede access to shops, schools, workplaces, hospitals and places of worship. They are subjected to restrictions of every kind and to daily ritual humiliation at the hands of occupation soldiers and checkpoint guards.
Invasion, occupation and plantation of their land is the reality that Palestinians have faced for decades and still face on a daily basis, as their country is reduced remorselessly. Unless, and until, this Israeli aggression is halted, and the democratic rights of the Palestinian people are vindicated, there will be no justice or peace in the Middle East. Israel’s 40-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza must be ended.
The occupation can end if political and economic pressure is placed on Israel by the international community. Recognizing this, the Palestinian people continually call on the international community to intervene.
We, the signatories, call for the following:
- The Irish Government to cease its purchase of Israeli military products and services and call publicly for an arms embargo against Israel.
- The Irish Government to demand publicly that Israel reverse its settlement construction, illegal occupation and annexation of land in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and to use its influence in international fora to bring this about.
- The Irish Government to demand publicly that the Euro-Med Agreement under which Israel has privileged access to the EU market be suspended until Israel complies with international law.
- The Irish Government to veto any proposed upgrade in EU relations with Israel.
- The Irish people to boycott all Israeli goods and services until Israel abides by international law.
P U L S E 
I admire this, but Israel’s response will continue to be “F-U” and do what it wants without any consequences.
Sure it will – as long as ‘good men do nothing’.
The test will come when the Israels agents within the US start their dirty tricks: will the good citizens of Uncle Sam have the stomach to weather the storm?
Any sane individuals would have to agree with the calling of a boycott by the Irish Civil Society against Israel concerning the genocide that the Israeli military and government have perpetrated against the Palestinian people. It is clear that the real mistake was created in 1947 by forcing mainly European Jews to settle in Palestine which resulted in chaos to the detriment of the indigenous populations of the region. Unfortunately our governments in the west have had the Zionist lobby controlling the direction of our media and foreign policy thus I fear there will be little hope of change for the Palestinians for the foreseeable future..
Unlike the Jews, the Irish have longer memories and can remember what it is like to be persecuted and can empathize with the others facing the same thing. They also know full well that it is nothing more than western wishful thinking that allows us to believe that Israel can use force to win in this conflict. The wealthy and powerful, who are greatly afraid of and motivated by the potential loss of said power, think that force is the option. This only makes sense when one’s idea of tragedy is having to sleep on sheets with a low thread count. When you have nothing and no hope of ever having a decent life, fighting to the death for your honor is the only option left. Only those who have been poor or oppressed can ever understand this. When your life is already a living hell, why would you be afraid to die fighting to change it? It’s a win for you either way.
That is the danger of being racists who think they are the “chosen” people of God. They greatly underestimate the “enemy” in doing so and are destined to fail.
This article makes me proud of my Irish heritage!
way to go Irish folks! I am really proud of you guys. At least some Europeans have guts as compared to Americans
Amen! How ironic that the Israeli’s use much of the same tactics on the Palestinians that were supposed to have been used on them in WW2, and have the nerve, gall and audacity to still try to claim “Eternal Victim hood”. I guess it’s: “Never again…so long as it’s not us…” “God’s chosen people” need to re-read their history, because after many and many a chance, “God” finally had enough and removed them from “chosen” status. No matter what is done for them, it’s never enough, or good enough.
I expect that “Al CIAMOSSADda” will declare jihad on Ireland in the next few days.
what an honest and courageous act! as a german i can not even dream of living in such a state…
..oh, i wouldn’t be that pessimistic as rick, there are mor and more true voices popping up lately, Karin Friedemann for instance, has a great article on her blog..
besides, i’ve been on the eastern side when the berlin wall fell, having experienced this, you know how it smells when it’s about big change;)
I didnt think it possible to love the Irish any more than I already do. But its possible!.. We all stand with Ireland!
Well done.
You’ve established an excellent precedent.
I’m wondering how we in Scotland can copy it.
Thank you Ireland
IT IS IN OUR HANDS
BOYCOTT ISRAELI PRODUCT
LOOK THE NUMBER (7) 29…. ON THE BAR-CODE
IT MEANS NOI SRAELI GOODS.
LONG LIVE PELASTINE
We can do more than just voice our opposition to Israeli aggression: let’s act too!
On the same day the above was published, the Galway Palestine Children’s Charity organised a shipping container to be filled with donations from local businesses and people. The response was overwhelming: they needed to call for two more containers!
The woman who wrote the music to this photo slideshow (Treasa Ní Cheannabháin) is escorting the containers to Gaza, where she has been sending medical supplies for years:
Free Gaza! Free Palestine!
The Irish are grand !!
I had the privilege of living in Ireland for several years – the Irish are totally great!
We could only wish Americans had the cool and courage the Irish do!
Go for it!!
Any country that defies Israel has it’s opposition party funded by Mossad . Look at what happened in New Zealand – as soon they spoke out against Israel the money poured into the Opposition and they wion the next election and lo and behold – friends with israel again. So watch out Ireland
Looking at those maps of the ever-dwindling Palestinian land make me weep. Israel will stop at nothing short of genocide to rule over the entire area, but will claim their bellicose acts to be acts of self-defense. Their strategies are different than Nazi Germany’s were, but the goal is the same – the elimination of a people.
The same is true in Tibet.
Bravo, Ireland!!!
Great initiative guys, it means alot to know that civil society all over the world thinks the same way about state terrorism.
Whenever we decide to do nothing about it, many of the victims in such situations become terrorist as they can no longer see any hope in doing the right thing. Here in Pakistan we are facing the worst possible enemy; our own people… who are frustrated over the injustice and torture the world has put them through. They have been misled, by those who manipulate and misinterpret religion… and are now completely consumed by the idea of killing everyone.
It is not only the civil responsibility of each individual to raise their voice against such acts, its also upto us to do something about it!
i appreciate your sincere efforts, atleast one europian country has courage. as israel is only (jew) country and is sourrouded by many muslim countries, they should engulf it
Suspend EU-Israel Association Agreement
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Suspend-EU-Israel-Trade-Agreement
A little something that might help. Certainly can’t hurt.
What truly amazes me is that those who support Zionism really don’t understand the roots and how they behave.
They are not a representative of all Jewish Communities around the world but for a time they had the entire world convinced they did. I can even assume those who still support it really have no clue that the Zion Movement betrayed their own people. Saying Zionists represent the Jewish community is like saying the KKK represent all White people.
As we have noted Israel is doing many of the same things Hitler did. Well there may be a very good underling reason for that. They were working with him. The Zionist worked with a few Fascist leaders not just the Nazis. But that is a really long story.
They wanted their own little piece of land so badly they would do anything to get it. They use the Holocaust as an excuse for many things. They even use their own people as pons in their endeavors. But make no mistake they do not represent the majority. Even those who help Israel in all likelihood, have no idea what really happened. Like the KKK who are still alive and well.So is the Zionist movement. They actually encourage and foster Anti-Semanticist. They then use it to manipulate people. They pretend they are the only ones who suffered a Holocaust. Well lots of people were killed by the Germans for one and those in North and South America were also killed by the millions. They to suffered a Holocasut. Those in Africa also have suffered numerous Holocausts. Actually more of them have been killed then Jews. So those in North and South America and Africa suffered much more. They are all the same, only the Zionists have tryed to make people believe it only happened to their people. Of course the Zionists were part of the Extermination of their own people. The book below will explain a bit of the history. To know is to understand. This is the truth they don’t want anyone to know about. Zionists are not the saints they pretend to be.
Click to access Holocaust%20Victims%20Accuse.pdf
Damn! I’m half Irish and half Hispanic-American (Spanish grandfather and a Native American grandmother), but it’s my Irish part that is strongest. And boy am I ever proud to have that running through my veins. First Lisbon and now this. When Pope JP-II (rip) called Hispanic America the Continent of Hope I think he was looking at the wrong place. He missed Ireland. They have done more against the NWO system as of late than ALL those Hispanic- Chavez loving governments put together.
I am truely going to encourage my children to marry Irish.