Image Source: Al Jazeera
World – Sinn Féin national chairperson Declan Kearney called on the European Union to end its cooperation agreement with Israel and impose a full arms embargo, with economic and political pressure to follow until Israel ends its apartheid and the annexation of Palestinian land, and guarantees a pathway to a sovereign, independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Kearney said Ireland has already moved in that direction. Public pressure has pushed the government to recognise the state of Palestine and to back the occupied territories bill against West Bank settlements.
The Irish national broadcaster has confirmed it will neither air nor take part in this year’s Eurovision because of Israel’s participation. Kearney welcomed the decision but said Europe must go much further.
“It is not enough to talk about symbolic sanctions. There must be decisive action taken which has the effect of completely isolating the state of Israel, ensuring that there is a full arms embargo placed upon this terrorist state,” Kearney said.
Britain Urged to Go Further
Britain has announced that it is prepared to impose sanctions on settlers in the West Bank. Kearney welcomed the move but said it is not enough while London is directly arming and funding Israel’s military effort in the West Bank, and that this must be brought to an end.
For Kearney, Britain’s role has a long history in Ireland. He pointed to the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the partition of Ireland four years later, both tied to British politicians of the same era.
Over the past 120 years, he said, people in the north of Ireland have faced state repression, institutionalised sectarianism and exclusion from jobs and housing, which is why Irish people recognise what is happening in Palestine today.
“But it extends beyond Palestine. We draw very direct and deep parallels with the struggle of the South African people for national liberation also,” Kearney said.
Ireland and South Africa
Kearney said Palestinians share a history of colonisation, subjugation, repression and displacement from their lands with the people of South Africa, Kurdistan and oppressed peoples across the world, who have endured it for decades and centuries. Irish people recognise it, he said, because it is rooted in their own historical experience.
The protests in Ireland during Donald Trump’s visit opposed US foreign policy on Palestine and also highlighted the Cuban people’s suffering under a blockade of nearly seven decades.
Kearney referred to Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom and said the Palestinian people have been on a long walk of their own, one the global community must share every step of the way. He hopes to visit South Africa one day and said the two countries should set an example for the rest of the world.
“Ireland must stand with South Africa. South Africa must stand with Ireland, and we must act as an example to the rest of the world,” Kearney said.
