Cork Palestine Solidary march hears call for 'more actions than words'
The weekly rally, organised by Cork Palestine Solidarity Group, calling for ceasefire and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, in Cork City centre on Saturday 11th May 2024. Pic: Larry Cummins
The people of Ireland are standing on the right side of history in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, according to the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Board.
But while Ireland maybe about to officially recognise the Palestinian state, one of its leading members said today that the people of Palestine need “more actions than words”.
West Bank-based human rights organization Al-Haq’s General Director Shawan Jabarin said all trade in Ireland with all Israeli companies should be stopped, not just trade with companies in the occupied territories.
He was speaking ahead of the 30th Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign march, taking place in Cork on Saturday afternoon. This march came against the backdrop of new orders by Israel to evacuate the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“Such a stop will not wreck the Irish economy,” Mr Jabarin said.
“What Ireland wants to do in recognising Palestine is good.
“But Israel needs to feel that they are being punished or are going to be punished and held accountable for that it has done to Palestine.
“Israel needs to be held accountable for its crimes and it needs to feel painful economic consequences for what it has done.
“If they don’t, Israel will keep repeating the crimes they commit.”
A former Amnesty International Palestinian Prisoner of Conscience, he has worked for years promoting human rights in Palestine.
He added: “I know the people of Cork and Ireland and where they stand.
“They stand on the right side of history when it comes to justice, accountability, equality and human rights.
“We say don’t just stand behind the people of Palestine, stand behind your principles, your values, your morality and your human conscience.
“But what is missing is actions by officials, actions by the State, and by actions, I mean sanctions.
“The people of Palestine do not need a few words here or there, we need action.”
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Also addressing the rally was author and actor Abdelfattah Abusrour, founding director of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society, established in 1998 in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem.
It took him nearly four days to get out Bethlehem to get to Cork, and risked being shot at by Israeli settlers, or simply banned from leaving the country.
He said: “Palestinians can see what the Irish people are doing on the streets and in Trinity College.
“In many ways, the people are the voice of the country but governments lack that voice.
“All the demonstrations that are happening have still not made enough pressure on governments to divest their economic interests in Israel.
“We don’t need just verbal support or the intention to help create a Palestinian state, or so on.
“But this verbal support and good will should also accompany actions against the occupying genocidal system that is happening.
“Palestinians hear the people around the world but we do not feel governments are doing enough.”
Around 900 people joined the rally, held on Cork city’s Grand Parade, before then marching down Patrick Street behind people in loud hailers shouting slogans.
Those 30 Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign marches and rallies have seen the involvement of dozens of medics and health workers who joined an estimated 1,000 people in march for Palestine through Cork city in January.
Doctors are not targets, they chanted, as they urged the government to take concrete action against Israel in the wake of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the time that there is a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
In March, action included doing a 72-hour hunger strike while sleeping outside Cork City Hall in protest against “Israel’s deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people” in Gaza.
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