Kairos Ireland Newsletter – June 2024

No end in sight

Eight months on and the unrelenting horror of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza continues. On Monday 10th June the UN Security Council voted to accept a ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States of America. This aims to end the fighting, allow for the release of hostages held by Hamas and detainees held by Israel, and create the prospect of a permanent ceasefire and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. At the time of writing this has yet to be accepted by Israel and Hamas. The unimaginable suffering of the Gazan people grinds on. James Elder of UNICEF described on BBC Today (13/06/24) the despair and malnutrition of people in Gaza.  As the occupying power, Israel has a duty to provide food, water and medicine to the civilian population. Instead, soldiers at military checkpoints prevent UNICEF trucks from delivering lifesaving supplies. UNICEF describes the current situation as a war on children.

Abuse of the Holocaust

In an article in the Irish Times (17/06/24) first published in the Israeli Ha’aretz newspaper, Hagai El-Ad, former executive director of the human rights body B’Tselem reflects on the abuse of the Holocaust by successive Israeli governments. He points out that since the inception of the State of Israel the Holocaust has been used as a cover for the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. Any criticism of Israeli policy and actions is met with the charge of antisemitism. Hagai El-Ad points to the 2018 Nation State Law which asserts that, ‘the Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel’, and to the gradual annexation of Palestinian land ‘field by field and goat by goat’. He calls on the world to wake up and see Israel as it really is in its actions and attitudes towards Palestinians. He calls on his fellow Israelis to treat Palestinians as equal human beings. Sadly, his voice is a minority one in today’s Israel. We, in the rest of the world, should not continue to be complicit with the racism of Israeli policy. As apartheid South was sanctioned and boycotted, so Israel should also be sanctioned and boycotted as a way of bringing them to their senses.

Recognition of the State of Palestine by Ireland

On the 28th May the government of Ireland formally recognised the State of Palestine together with Norway and Spain. In the Dail debate that went on for over three hours the Taoiseach, Simon Harris said that this action was a powerful symbol of hope. He said that this move recognises the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and he looked forward to a time when Palestinians and Israelis will live together in peace and security. The Foreign Minister, Micheal Martin, emphasized that no one has the right to prevent the Palestinian people from determining their own future. It was emphasized that recognition of the State of Palestine is the beginning of a process. It would be appropriate for Ireland to put pressure on Israel by enacting the ‘Occupied Territories Bill’ to ban trade with illegal settlements and to enact the proposed ‘Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill’.

What form the State of Israel ultimately takes is for the people who live there to decide. Western countries favour a two-state solution. Many Palestinians, however, argue for a unitary secular state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, with Israelis and Palestinians having equal rights. The recognition of the State of Palestine by Ireland was welcomed by Participants at a ‘Christ at the Checkpoint’ conference in Bethlehem Bible College and by Anglican Clergy from Jerusalem attending a retreat in Dublin.

The Methodist Conference calls for ceasefire in Gaza

A memorial (or resolution) was passed at the recent Methodist Conference by a narrow margin – 55 votes for and 53 against. The memorial was proposed and seconded by Rev Julian Hamilton and the Rev Andrew Kingston. Both have many years’ experience leading groups in the Holy Land and have a wide range of contacts in the region. They spoke of their anguish at the suffering that is taking place. The memorial calls for a ceasefire and the equal recognition of Palestinians and Israelis. It commended the Irish government for recognising the State of Palestine and called on the UK government to do the same. The full debate can be watched on the Thursday evening video of Conference on the Irish Methodist web site. The wording of the Memorial is printed below. 

Methodist Conference is profoundly disturbed at the brutal ‘Swords of Iron’ military campaign by Israel that has so far resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries amongst Gazan civilians; the wholesale destruction of homes and infrastructure; the killing of humanitarian workers and foreign journalists by the Israeli Army (International Federation of Journalists and Human Rights Watch say more than 350 deaths have occurred amongst journalists and Foreign Aid Workers).
We were greatly disturbed by the horrific atrocities committed by Hamas, and other militant groups on the 7th October 2023 resulting in over 1,200 deaths and the taking of over 240 hostages.
These tragic cycles of violence will only end when there is equal recognition of the right of both Israeli and Palestinian people to self-determination and an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel.
The Methodist Conference calls for an immediate ceasefire to enable peace talks to take place, hostages to be freed and bring an end to the terrible suffering in Gaza.
The Methodist Church in Ireland applauds the actions of the government of the Republic of Ireland in the recent recognition of the State of Palestine and calls on the next government of the United Kingdom to likewise recognise the State of Palestine as a means to find lasting peace, justice and security for all in the region.

The Tent of Nations – intimidation of international peace prize winner

The Tent of Nations near Bethlehem is a 100-acre farm that was bought by the Nassar family a hundred years ago. Despite ownership having been legally registered in the Ottoman period, the Israeli authorities have declared the farm to be ‘state land’. Nearby illegal Jewish settlers covet the farm and are engaged in a long-standing campaign of intimidation to try to drive out the Nassar family. This is just one example of the ongoing process of annexation and dispossession by Israel that has intensified since the start of the war against Gaza in 2023. In 2018 Gillian Kingston from Roscrea, who is the Vice President of the World Methodist Council presented the World Methodist Peace Prize to Daoud Nassar on behalf of the World Methodist Council. She draws attention to a report on page six of the recent First Friday magazine which describes continuing harassment of the Nassar family. Since October 2023, attacks in the West Bank on Palestinian farmers, towns and refugee communities have escalated. The United Nations reports that 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 7th October 2023.