We ask three Cork-based women why they march in solidarity with the Palestinian people

Helen O’Callaghan chats to three women on why they take part in demonstrations for Palestine week in, week out and the benefits to doing so

Lilly Higgins: "I had a general feeling of helplessness. When you feel like that, it’s good to put yourself with like-minded people." Picture Dan Linehan

Week after week they march in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We ask three Cork-based women why they march. What has happened since they started? Have they developed new friendships? What do they want to see happen in Palestine? And do they have personal links there?

‘A determined group’

Cobh-based human rights lawyer Anne McShane has been on 30 of the 33 marches that have taken place in Cork City on Saturdays in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

“When October 7 happened I knew immediately it wasn’t going to end there. I never thought the retribution would be so swift or so harsh.

“For me, Palestine is a microcosm of everything wrong with the world at the moment. A people who just want to live in their land are being pushed off and killed to make space for a colonial power backed by world leaders.

“On the march, I feel I’m part of a group of very determined people who’ve come together to fight for what they believe in and to make their voices heard. We’re very diverse — a beautiful thing is we have people from everywhere in the world marching in Cork.

“It feels like there’s intense comradeship between us all. We feel very strong for that hour of marching. And so many people on the footpath are waving, giving us the thumbs up and mouthing our slogans back.

Anne McShane: “For me, Palestine is a microcosm of everything wrong with the world at the moment." Picture Dan Linehan

“Some weeks we’re really grieving, after some incursion where there has been enormous death or expulsion of people. All week we say we can’t cope and then, on Saturday, we come out to express our feelings. It’s cathartic.

“At the beginning there were just a few people. Then more started to arrive. Now numbers vary between 800 and 1,000. They’re from all walks of life, young and old, from the county, the city — very genuine, straightforward people who’ve decided they’re going to put everything into this.

“There’s a woman on a walking frame every week, a man in his 90s, children, whole families. So many women in their 30s, mothers of young children — they’re doing it for the children of Gaza. When they’re putting their children to bed at night, they think of the children in Palestine.

“Personally, I want to see Israel withdraw to the 1967 borders at the very least, for all the troops to be withdrawn, and the people to be given back their land. Ceasefire is the immediate demand.

“I’ve become friends with a young Palestinian man here, a PhD student from Gaza. One night around Christmas he texted to say his aunt, uncle and four cousins — quadruplets — had all been killed in the bombing. The quads had all started in university to be doctors and scientists.

“All I could do for him was say I’d light a candle and say their names. My husband Alan and I just did that. We were at the beginning of our friendship at that time. Now I’m like his auntie here.”

‘I am a Palestinian citizen’

From Nazareth, Carrigtwohill-based Rola Abu Zeid-O’Neill came to Ireland 17 years ago. Married to Jack O’Neill, they have two sons aged 15 and 11. Rola works at University College Cork and is also a community worker with the HSE.

“At the end of October I was sick for nearly nine days. What I saw affected me… on social media. What you can see in English is horrible, but if you know Arabic and watch Arabic social media it’s worse. After October 7, I was going from screen to screen. I knew if I continued doing that I’d be sick mentally, emotionally, physically.

“I thought if I want to do something, I have to have balance. My balance was to watch less the hourly news and media and to do more half-day briefs. And to raise awareness about what’s happening in Palestine.

“When it all started I didn’t cook for the kids for three weeks — I just took things from the freezer. I didn’t have the energy. People were starving in Gaza, kids were dying. I haven’t baked for the kids since October — only once I made pizza for their lunchboxes.

Rola Abu Zeid-O'Neill: "I thought if I want to do something, I have to have balance." Picture Dan Linehan

“I am a Palestinian citizen of Nazareth. My mom, my three siblings, my cousins are all there. I used to speak at length with my mom, but since October 7, it’s all very short phone calls, just very general, not sharing anything. I worry about them. I don’t speak about any politics with them in case they would be heard and there would be consequences.

“Through these marches, you meet other people. You can speak and share your experience, your pain, your worries. And raising awareness is very important, so other people know what’s going on, why this has happened.

“On the marches I have complex feelings: Happy to see all these people who continue week after week since October 7, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Christmas or Easter. I’m happy to be Irish and proud of the Irish people and those who attend the protest. At the same time I am sad.

“I want to see justice and that the kids will first live — and that they will live childhood. Because they don’t know childhood.

“The march is a protest: You are against, you do something to express your anger about this injustice, this genocide. It’s about not getting used to this, thinking it’s normal news. It is not.”

‘Feeling of helplessness’

As a food-writer Lilly Higgins has always loved Middle-Eastern food, particularly Palestinian. The Cobh-based mum of three has Palestinian friends, as well as friends in Gaza.

“One of my sisters lives in Lebanon, 300km from Gaza — like from Cork to Dublin — and they’ve been hit in the south and north. She was living in Jordan before and I’d go there. I cooked there with displaced Palestinian women and learned from them. That’s how I’m familiar with their recipes, their food, their struggle.

“The first march I went to in Cork was at the end of October. I went with my nine-year-old daughter. I had a general feeling of helplessness. When you feel like that, it’s good to put yourself with like-minded people. Instead of us all being in our houses, thinking about what’s happening, we could all march, move together down the street in Cork and demand what Palestine needs — ‘Free Palestine’, ‘Permanent Ceasefire Now’, sanctions to be put on Israel.

“I go almost every Saturday, usually with my mother and one or two of my children – when they don’t have matches or sports on, they come with me. It’s important people know they can just come to the march on their own. Plenty weeks I’ve been on my own and I’ve gone.

“It feels like you’re doing something — that’s a huge help. I don’t think Palestinians need us to be their voices. They have their own. They just need us to amplify their voices and ask for what they want — a ceasefire and to bring an end to this.

“My mother used to boycott Israeli products when we were children. It’s very important our children are aware of what’s going on now because they’ll be the next generation of consumers.

“People think marching is a bigger thing to do than it is. They think it’s really radical but it’s all normal people marching — my mother, her friends, my son’s classmates, granddads with toddlers. It’s a normal thing to do, to voice your concern on behalf of others. It’s better to be involved than to be a bystander.”