Palestine is not that far from Ireland

Thats the photo of one of the murals in Northern Ireland which depicts

solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Palestine and Ireland have more things in common than most people presume. Unfortunately, the media portrays the conflict in Palestine as something distant from us (western countries), caused only by the hatred and intolerance between two communities. Not long ago, the troubles in Northern Ireland also received this “treatment” by the media. As a result, this superficial coverage leads to misinformation and misjudgements instead of contributing to social conscience and changes, which are considered one of the media’s major roles. Thankfully, there are some alternative means of communication, such as the murals and more recently the internet blogs, that give voice to those ignored (or censored) by the traditional media (radio, TV and press) and provide different points of view.

Furthermore, I would like to recommend two documentaries that I believe were able to follow the principles of true journalism, due to their in-depth criticism, balance and willingness for social changes. They are called Occupation 101 and The Iron Wall. With strong images, interviewees from both sides and astonishing statistics, both films provide a better understanding of the conflict and after watching them, it gets easier to recognise the links with Northern Ireland’s troubles. Both conflicts are deeply related to an unfair occupation; therefore they are more political than religious. They deny the oppressed citizens the most basic human rights, such as freedom of movement and speech. Moreover, these citizens are confined to ghettos and refugee camps with no access to good education, health and no infra-structure. Gaza is Northern Ireland’s working class neighbourhood, but in a poorer and “walled” situation.

The conflicts in Northern Ireland and Palestine have “terrorist” groups, such as Hamas and IRA, but isn’t it also terrorism what the soldiers did (and have been doing) to the citizens? The grand author Noam Chomsky uses a Saint Augustine’s story to metaphorically exemplify the way the term terrorism has been (mis)used. One pirate is captured by Alexander the Great who asks “How dare you molest the sea?” and the pirate simply replies “How dare you molest the whole world? Because I do it with only a little ship I am called a thief; you doing it with a great navy are called an emperor”. In other words, western countries along with Israel have been using the term “terrorism” to label their enemies, instead of recognising that what they are doing is also terrorism, if it can be defined as the use of violence for political ends, putting a section of the public in fear.

In both wars, thousands of houses were demolished, homes broken and families torn apart by both sides. Palestinian and Israeli and Catholics and Protestants. These are just a few links. I hope they will be enough to show that Palestine is not that far way.

PS: There are some Irish activists fighting for the Palestine cause. They regularly organise protests, boycotts and meetings. These are two websites where you can find out more about their work:

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) - http://www.ipsc.ie/index.php

Free Gaza Movement - http://freegaza.org/