Sarah Harte: The Gaza catastrophe is testing Ireland’s conscience — and its credibility

Ireland’s shared history of colonisation and famine compels more than sympathy for Gaza — it demands decisive political action

Palestinians stretch their arms through a metal fence with empty pots and pans, trying to receive food from a charity distribution point in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Picture: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty

There are many other conflicts in the world, such as the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan. Yet, we find commonalities in our shared history with the Palestinians. This can be linked to what Fintan Drury, in his new book, Catastrophe Nakba II, terms us being “indelibly marked by the experience of being colonised by Britain”.

The folk memory of the famine that transformed Ireland lives on, when entire communities were wiped out, which perhaps heightens our reaction to the current famine in Gaza, including the nightly images of emaciated children and starving babies.