Solidarity for the Raytheon 9 and Palestine in Galway, yesterday

galway | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Sunday May 18, 2008 16:08

by TD - Free Palestine Campaign

"The implications of occupation actually prevailing and a new apartheid regime emerging are chilling" (Jeff Halper)

Yesterday, activists from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, Permanent Revolution, Free Palestine Campaign, ably aided, abetted and filmed by students from the Huston School of Film & Digital Media did a nine hour slog in Shop street for the Raytheon 9 and Palestine. After their info stall outside Lynch's castle two SWP activists joined us for a while in solidarity with their SWP colleagues in the Raytheon 9 whose trial commences in Belfast this coming Tuesday or Wednesday, see http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87594

Maggie Heneghan on the left (as it were) with SWP colleague, Dette McLoughlin

The centerpiece of the FPC stall was a petition calling on the EU: "to suspend or terminate the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement as Israel is in gross violation of Article 2 of this Agreement: 'respect for human rights and democratic principles"' - the petition also called on the Irish government to work towards effecting this. To augment this, a flyer - text gleaned from the IPSC website - http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/ipsc/displayRe...ID=74 was distributed:

Why does the EU refuse to suspend its Euro-Med Agreement with Israel despite Israel’s continuing human rights abuses?

Israel has privileged access to the EU market through the Euro-Med Agreement. Article 2 of this Agreement makes clear that this privileged access is conditional on Israel respecting “human rights and democratic principles”, which is said to constitute “an essential element of this Agreement”.
The IPSC is not alone in believing that Israel has singularly failed to respect “human rights and democratic principles” in the territories acquired through force in 1948 nor in the territories it has occupied since 1967, the most recent of many examples being its isolation and economic strangulation of Gaza. This has produced the worst humanitarian crisis there since the occupation began, according to a recent joint report by Trócaire, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Christian Aid and other NGOs.

On 2 March 2008, the EU also described Israel’s actions as “collective punishment of the people of Gaza”. A statement by the EU Presidency said:

“The Presidency condemns the recent disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) against the Palestinian population in Gaza and urges Israel to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from all activities that endanger civilians. Such activities are contrary to international law.”
Collective punishment of people under occupation is contrary to Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

There, the EU states unequivocally that Israel’s isolation and economic strangulation of Gaza breaches international humanitarian law. There isn’t the slightest doubt, therefore, that Israel is in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the Euro-Med Agreement and that the Agreement should be suspended. But the EU refuses to hold Israel to account. As a consequence Israel is emboldened and knows it can continue its policy of ethnic cleansing and expansion into Palestinian territory without fear of sanction from the EU. One is left wondering what has Israel to do in order to provoke the EU into suspending the Agreement. The EU is not alone in declaring Israel’s isolation and economic strangulation to be “collective punishment” contrary to international humanitarian law.

Listen to this from John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, reporting to the Security Council on 26 February: “The effective Israeli isolation of Gaza is not justified, given Israel’s continuing obligations to the people of Gaza. It amounts to collective punishment and is contrary to international humanitarian law.” And from our own Dermot Ahern in the Dail on 11 March: “I remain deeply concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. It is unacceptable that Israel should isolate the people of Gaza and cut off essential supplies in order to exert pressure on them to reject Hamas. I agree with the United Nations that this constitutes collective punishment and is illegal under international humanitarian law.” There is no doubt that Israel has failed to live up to its obligations in the Euro-Med Agreement to respect “human rights and democratic principles”. The Agreement should be suspended.

The IPSC asks: considering Ireland's tradition of respect for human rights and solidarity with oppressed peoples everywhere why has the Irish Government not called for a suspension of the Euro-Med Agreement with Israel despite Israel ’s continuing human rights abuses.?

To boot, as a "campaign of sanctions represents one of the most efficacious measures" - to bring rogue state Israel to heel (Jeff Halper), passers by and well wishers were encouraged to boycott Israeli goods and agricultural produce: “If Israel succeeds in defying the Fourth Geneva Convention and making its Occupation permanent, if an entire population is literally locked behind walls and its right of self-determination trampled, then the ability of human rights to win out over an international order founded on power politics and militarism is jeopardized. We all have a stake in ending the Occupation; the implications of occupation actually prevailing and a new apartheid regime emerging are chilling. Since the Palestinians do not have the power to shake off the Occupation on their own and the Israelis will not, only international pressure will effectively achieve a just peace. A campaign of sanctions represents one of the most efficacious measures” (Jeff Halper, co founder of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions in his 2008 book: An Israeli in Palestine, Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel).