Dublin Conference supports State of Palestine

MAJOR CONFERENCE IN
DUBLIN SUPPORTS
STATE OF PALESTINE:

On 28th March last a major representative conference on Palestine organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and SIPTU, Ireland's largest trade union was held in the SIPTU HQ, Liberty Hall in the centre of Dublin.

The Conference was chaired by John Douglas, of MANDATE, the Services and administrators union and current Secretary General of the ICTU and Jack O'Connor, General President of SIPTU. 

Representatives attended from Palestinian support groups in Ireland, Irish Palestine Solidarity Commitee (IPSC), Sadaka, Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) and political groups which support the Palestinian Cause; Sinn Féin, People Before Profit(PBP), Socialist Party, Socialist Worker’s Party, Workers Party, Communist Party of Ireland, Irish Labour Party plus peace groups Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and Irish CND. 

Among those who addressed the conference, entitled ‘Where Now for the Two State Solution – Solidarity and Sanctions’ - was Ambassador of Palestine to Ireland, Dr. Ahmad Abdelrazek, Dr. Sabri Saidam, Former Palestinian minister and adviser to President, Abbas, Ramallah, Palestine, Elaine Bradley, Irish human rights activist and member of Academics for Palestine, Mags O’Brien Chairperson Global Solidarity Committee, Irish Congress Trade Unions and the Middle East Children’s Alliance Projects Director, Dr. Mona El Farra, who had to address the event via telephone due to the Israeli authorities refusal to allow her to leave Gaza.

Dr. El Farra said: “I wanted to come to Dublin to tell the Irish people of the suffering that is going on in Gaza since the Israeli military assault last summer. There has been no reconstruction of any kind and tens of thousands of people are living in temporary accommodation. The scale of suffering and trauma for women and children is immense”.

According Dr El Farra, she has tried unsuccessfully to leave Gaza on a number of occasions but was unable to leave through the Rafah checkpoint on the Egyptian border.“I applied for a visa to the Israeli authorities but they refused for ‘security reasons’ even though I am not involved in any militant resistance and all my activities are peaceful. The Israeli authorities will not explain what the ‘security reasons’ are.” she said.

“The Rafah crossing has been closed for most of the time and there are many thousands trying to get out of Gaza through Egypt. I have applied for an exit but there seems to be little hope that I can make it to the conference in Dublin unless someone in authority intervenes.” Dr El Farra holds joint Palestinian and British citizenship and is recognised as the leading spokesperson and advocate for thousands of children in Gaza who were injured and traumatised in the Israeli military assault on the city in July and August last year, and in previous years.  

Jack O’Connor called for greater co-ordination between supporters of Palestine in Ireland to push for recognition of a viable Palestinian state. He also commended the workers in Dunnes Stores, Ireland's largest supermarket group for their boycott of handling Israeli produce goods from the illegal zionist settlements in the West Bank.

Both Dr Ahmad Abdelrazek, the Palestinian Ambassador, and former minister Dr Sabri Saidam, thanked the Irish people and Government for their strong support of the Palestinian cause at the UN and EU councils and especially the popular support by the Irish people of the people of Gaza with food and medical aid throughout the vicious and criminal assaults by Israel on the territory in recent years.

John Douglas, Secretary General of ICTU, promised continuous support by ICTU here and at international Trade Union fora of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions campaign against Zionist Israel as has been the policy of Irish trade unionists for decades. It was recently announced that Veolia, the French transport and infrastructure company, had divested all except one of its investments in Israel which is the light rail project in Jerusalem, but even this is expected to be abandoned soon as several EU countries have removed Veolia from their lists of companies allowed to tender for public sector projects in the future.

After wide-ranging discussion the Conference voted unanimously to support the State of Palestine and called for immediate formal recognition by the Irish Government.

Dublin City Council has already passed a motion calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people and Dáil Éireann, the Irish Parliament, has passed a unanimous resolution calling for recognition of the State of Palestine.

How to recognise Israeli goods in supermarkets:

http://www.ipsc.ie/campaigns/consumer-boycott