Sinn Féin Urges Irish Government to Press Israel to End Illegal Actions in Palestine

Dublin, MINA – Irish republican party Sinn Féin has called on the Irish government to take meaningful measures to put international pressure on Israel to end their illegal actions in Palestine.

Speaking during Dáil statements on the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territory, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Matt Carthy TD, said Ireland should take “real, tangible measures that shows the world, and most importantly the children of Jenin, that we want no hand, act no part in the systematic destruction of the Palestinian people”.

Welcoming the cross-border unity in the condemnation of Israeli actions, Deputy Carthy criticized the government for failing to endorse the ‘Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill’ and for not officially recognizing the State of Palestine, WAFA reported.

He said that “it is simply not conceivable to tell another generation of Palestinian children that they must wait.  It is time for the world to act – it is time for Ireland to lead the way”.

Meantime, MP Carthy said “The refugee Camp at Jenin in the West Bank is a perfect, albeit tragic, symbol of Israel’s brutal occupation and aggression against the Palestinian people.

“Imagine a child of Palestine, in 1948.  This child was one of 700,000 Palestinian children, women and men that were forcefully removed from their home during the Nakba. This child lost everything, their home, their security, their future, their homeland,” he said.

“Being forced into a refugee camp – they waited for the world to act – it didn’t. That first refugee camp was destroyed in a snowstorm.  So it was that this child was forced again to move; to what became known as the Jenin Refugee camp.  Again, the child hoped that the world would act to allow them to return home.  The world didn’t act,” MP Carthy added.

“This child grew up in that refugee camp.  Depending on charity when all they wanted was to go back to where they came from. Imagine that child had a child.  The child’s child was born just 52 miles, as the crow flies, from the birthplace of Jesus Christ.  That child was born in time for the Israeli invasion of the West Bank, including Jenin. The child and their child again lived under Israeli occupation.”

MP Carthy continued, “Another Palestinian generation was to live through that occupation, discrimination and the denial of the most fundamental of human rights.  The child and their child, wanting to return home, waited for the world to act – it didn’t.”

“Imagine the child’s child had their own child born at the time of the Intifada and the ongoing Israeli raids that left three generations living in constant fear.”(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)