Nobody knew what form this latest round of bloodshed would take in Palestine and Israel. But everyone knew the situation was untenable.
Already, hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis have been killed and thousands more injured. Our hearts go out to all of them and their loved ones. The first imperative must be to stop the killings.
Israel’s far-right government, working closely with paramilitary settlers, has escalated attacks on Palestinians and driven them from their lands. Already, 2023 was the bloodiest year since 2005, with over 200 Palestinians and 35 Israelis killed.
But the problem goes deeper than Netanyahu’s government; the root of the violence is Israeli apartheid. A system that violently segregates Palestinians into ever-smaller ghettos and reserves, which has been widely condemned, including by UN bodies, Amnesty International, hundreds of Palestinian organisations and dozens of Israeli groups.
This asymmetrical cycle of violence is the inevitable result of the apartheid system Israel uses to maintain its decades-long colonisation effort. And Palestinian resistance to colonisation and escalation is equally inevitable. No people can tolerate generations of oppression without resisting, nor should they be expected to.
Under international law, Palestinians have a right to resist military occupation, and we support this right.
Just as governments condemn Hamas’s attacks on civilians, so too must they condemn and act upon Israel’s mass killings in Gaza. Netanyahu has threatened to reduce Gaza to rubble, and again Israeli aircraft bomb densely populated Palestinian neighbourhoods. Western complicity has allowed Israel to kill civilians with impunity and it will continue to do so unless sanctions are imposed. The international community must act now to challenge this impunity, sanction Israel, and stop the violence.
Jews for Palestine-Ireland are proud to stand with other Palestinian solidarity groups in support of BDS and justice. We call on the Dáil to enact the Occupied Territories Bill, and on all Irish people to join the campaign for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel.
No more killings.
Sue Pentel
Jews for Palestine – Ireland
Belfast BT11
Use Patten reforms as basis for all-island police service
THE turmoil facing the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) due to data leaks, public confidence issues on enforcing Covid restrictions during sensitive commemorations and violent threats from dissidents are just some of their mounting challenges. It’s vital for society to take stock of these issues and together create inclusive solutions.
The Good Friday Agreement 1998, agreed by the vast majority of our citizens on this island, is the pathway on our shared journey to achieve a mutually acceptable, peaceful and tolerant nation, whether that be as two states in Ireland or one re-united country.
This agreement was based on power sharing in Northern Ireland and the establishment for the first time of an impartial police service in 2001, made up of officers who would lawfully defend our civil liberties and rights by replacing the disgraced Royal Ulster Constabulary who will forever be remembered for shamefully attacking our civil rights and who defended sectarianism and the Orange Order instead of just laws and order.
Because crime has no borders, the future vision of a safer Ireland is better served using the Patten reforms as the basis for an all-island police service with some of the following proposals:
1. Rename as Garda Síochána/Police Service Ireland and shorten to Garda/Police.
2. Four New Garda/Police regions (better balanced resources) – Northern Region (Ulster & Co Louth, 10 counties, pop 2.3m), Dublin Metropolitan Region (pop 1.5m), Eastern Region (remaining counties of Leinster, pop 1.3m), South Western Region (Munster and Connacht, 11 counties with pop 2m).
3. Northern Region commanded from a new HQ at Knock, Belfast which would report to Garda/Police HQ Phoenix Park Dublin. This would effectively remove the partitioned border on our island.
4. Northern Region would be armed with a view to standardising this process across all Garda/Police regions in line with most other European countries.
5. Maintain 50:50 recruitment for Ulster and follow similar guidelines used by the Patten commission on accountability, uniforms etc.
Ultimately we need political agreement for a new Ireland and policing but for now it is important that we always challenge our existing guardians if they fall below the high standards set for them and its equally important to state that any attack on our island police is an attack on us the people and can never be tolerated.
Michael Hagan
Dunmurry, Co Antrim
When India gained its independence partition raised its ugly head
In Saturday’s Irish News (September 30), Patrick Murphy stated the following: “After 25 years of violence, 4,000 deaths and 25 years of campaigning, that’s the entire progress made by nationalists towards a united Ireland (India achieved independence from Britain in half that without firing a shot).”
Maybe so, but when they gained independence, partition raised its ugly head. Up to 10 million people found themselves on the wrong side of the border. Ten million people became refugees. Muslims travelled to Pakistan while Sikhs and Hindus travelled to India. In the horrific massacres that followed more than one million of the refugees died.
So they may have not fired a shot but because of partition and religion, millions died. After hundreds of years of British rule and millions of deaths, Britain removed themselves and left the people of India and Pakistan to take care of themselves. Read the history of India and see how many died.
Tony Carroll
Newry, Co Down
