Israel must lift the siege on Gaza
The people of Gaza have suffered under siege for three years. This siege imposed by the Israelis in June 2007, means that people in Gaza can't leave to visit family, to get medical treatment, to study or to work. They also can't get enough food, electricity, medical supplies and other basic essentials into the city.
1.5 million people are trapped on a strip of land 25 miles long and 6 miles wide. The Israeli blockade is a cruel and unusual punishment for the 1.5 million innocent civilians forced to endure it. This blockade can’t go on any longer. Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micháel Martin has visited Gaza to see for himself the plight of the Palestinian people.
Help end the three year siege on Gaza. You can do that now by taking the action below asking your government to call on the EU to remove all of Israel’s trade privileges until it lifts the blockade and abides by international law, respecting the human rights of the ordinary people of Gaza.
Comments
Rachel Corrie
videos at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUGjzxG5r9Q and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyrQL-ZhMy4&feature=player_embedded
Rachel Corrie was ten years old in 1990 when she made the following speech, which you can see her make, powerfully on Youtube; “I'm here for other children. I'm here because I care. I'm here because children everywhere are suffering, and because 40,000 people die each day from hunger. I'm here because these people are mostly children. We have got to understand that the poor are all around us, and we are ignoring them. We have got to understand that these deaths are preventable. We have got to understand that people in third world countries think and care and smile and cry just like us. We have got to understand that they are us, we are them. My dream is to stop hunger by the year 2000. My dream is to give the poor a chance. My dream is to save the 40,000 people who die each day. My dream can and will come true, if we all look into the future and see the light that shines there. If we ignore hunger, that light will go out. If we all help and work together, it will grow and burn free with the potential of tomorrow”.
Over 300 children were killed by Israel during its attack on Gaza that began over Christmas 2008 and continued into the new year of 2009. Many, many more were injured, maimed and made homeless and school-less; they are now subjected to an illegal siege by Israel.
On March 16th 2003, thirteen years after Rachel Corrie made her speech, she was killed in Gaza by Israel's army. Rachel Corrie was a human rights defender. She was American. She was 23 years old. Now, seven years later, an Irish ship bearing her name, shines that light she saw, at the age of ten, on one of our times greatest injustices. Rachel Corrie has returned; once again to peacefuly confront her killers with their own violence and injustice. Some lights don’t go out. Some lights grow and burn free with the potential of tomorrow. Some things can't be killed.
P. Farrell
ps The videos cut short Rachel's speech, and end with the words " My dream can and will come true, if we all look into the future and see the light that shines there". The theologian/philosopher Jung said:
“And so we can draw a parallel: just as in me, a single individual, the darkness calls forth a helpful light, so it does in the psychic life of a people.”
These events emerging from darkness are historic not only in the middle east but globally, they're sad and yet hopeful events, even for Israelis, even though they don't yet see the light.
Gaza and Israel
I would have thought that an aide agency like Trocaire, especially from Ireland, would accept that there are no simple solutions to complex problems. Your 'reports' and commentary on Gaza makes no reference at all to the governing authority and their responsibility to help the people there. That it is all Israel's 'fault' is naive and too simple.
I cant imagine you think that the Israeli's have any benefit - other than their national security - to use precious resources to protect its borders, and to suppress the assault. Your silence when the bombs were on the busses in Jerusalem and the cafes in Tel Aviv was deafening.
Your failure to address the complexity - the role of the PA, the role of Hamas, the role of Al Quada - is simplistic, insensitive and just incites more hatred.
It is sad that their is trouble in the world ...
A prayer by Pope Clement XI has a section which every human should considder when they see trouble in the world .......
The Universal Prayer
Lord, I believe in you : increase my faith. I trust in you: strengthen my trust. I love you:let me love you more and more. I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow. I worship you as my first beginning, I long for you as my last end, I prase you as my constant helper, and call on you as my loving protector. Guide me by your wisdom, comfort me with your mercy, protect me with your power. I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you; my words: to have you for their theme; my actions: to reflect my love for you; my sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory. I want to do what you ask of me: in the way you ask, for as long as you ask, because you ask it. Lord enlighten my understanding, strenghten my will, purify my heart, and make me holy. Help me to repent of my past sins and to resist temptation in the future. Help me to rise above my human weakness and to grow stronger as a Christian. Let me love you, my Lord and my God,*** and see myself as I realy am: a pilgrim in this world, a Christian called to respect and love all whose lives I touch, those in authority over me or those under my authority, my friends and my enemies. Help me to conquer anger by gentleness, greed by generosity, apathy by fervor. ***Make me prudent in planning, courageous in taking risks. Make me patient in suffering, unassuming in prosperity. Keep me, Lord, attentive in prayer, temperate in food and drink, diligent in my work, firm in my good intentions. Let my conscience be clear, my conduct without fault, my speech blameless,my life well-ordered. Put me on guard against my human weaknesses. Let me cherish your love for me, keep your law, and come at last to your salvation. Teach me to realize that this world is passing, that my true future is the happiness of heaven, that life on earth is short, and life to come eternal. Help me to prepare for death with a proper fear of judgment, but a greater trust in your goodness. Lead me safely through death to the endless joy of heaven. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blame will not solve this problem in the middle east or any of the other problems elsewhere in the word , bringing people and countrys into constructive dialog is the only hope for peace , the governments of the world will need to be less political and more honest and where they see something unjust they need to say so, and ordinary people should do the same .
I am an ordinary Irishman not overly religious , my father has cancer which might eventually kill him and as a result I have prayed more reciently, I never responded to anything like this in the past but this upset me as it did anyone I talked to, I don't blame the Isralies and I feel bad for the Palistine population, I hope some sencible people get involved and a road to peace is found, I'll say a prayer for peace.
Tom Treacy
Human life sacred
Its not about supporting Israelis or Palestinians. We need to respect human life and take a moral stand on such issues. Look at the situation in Gaza. Imagine living there yourself, or having your family suffer over there. The people in Gaza are also humans.
We have responsibility to the people of Gaza.
As an Irish woman who went freely to Israel to a Peace Conference in Jerusalem 6 yrs ago, I had the priviledge of witnessing this strange but beautiful land, of which I had heard so much about. A land with a history of conflict, much like our own, it is easier, perhaps for us to identify with its plight.
My heart sank when I saw the pallets of concrete stacked alongside the new wall, bearing the name "Roadstone" from Fortunestown, Tallaght. An example of an Irish Company profitting from the misery of others. I felt ashamed of my Irishness in that moment.
With our Neutral Status, we hold the unique advantage of offering support and intervention without violence, to many countries in the Middle East and throughout Africa. Our PeaceKeeping Troops are sometimes all that stands between thousands of Refugees and Soldiers from a Regime who would easily and without any second thought, commit the ultimate crimes against Humanity of Rape, Mutilation, Torture & Murder.
We have a serious Humanitarian & Spiritual ressponsibility to those who suffer at the hands of those in positions of Power & Authority. To stand by and witness this sickening and unnecessary Violation of Human Rights - while doing nothing to prevent it - is to share in the Guilt of the Oppressor. Have we not learnt from WWll that leaving a Country to its own devices, when we know harm is being done, results in mass destruction on a Social, Religious & Humanitarian Level.
If we do nothing we too are guilty of these crimes. We have a responsibility to the people of Gaza. We have our Neutrality, which is respected & needed in Gaza. We have a choice - the people of Gaza have none. It is our Moral Duty to take a Stand.
Alison Stokes
Enough is enough
As someone who has strongly supported Isreal's right to peaceful and secure existance, and who has visited that fascinating country, I now wish to clearly state that I cannot in any way support its actions in Gaza, or indeed in southern Lebanon previously. Israel, since its foundation, clearly wishes to be seen as a democratic state on the western European model. It also wishes to maintain close links with Europe through its participation in almost irrelevant events such as the Eurvision Song Contest or the European Football Chamionship. Also, it has also been granted membership of OECD. Europe has to make it clear that if Israel wishes to retain these links that it must behave like an EU member and immediately cease all agressive actions. There can be no justification for what it is doing in Gaza, or previously in south Lebanon. Surely Israel should understand this better than most other states. There is also a strong obligation on the USA to take firm action. I seem to recall President Obama, in the period between his election victory and his installation, stating that there would be changes in the US approach to Isreal. I cannot see any change. Without US support Israel would not be able to continue these activities.
Whatever it is, it is not straightforward
If it looks unfair, then it probably is. If it looks hard, then it probably is. Things were bad here at times, but I don't remember a time when the whole population of Northern Ireland was forced to live in an area bordered by the Newcastle to Belfast Road on one side and the east coast on the other (NOT counting the Ards peninsula). Lets get food and basic living materials to these people so that they can live a decent life. Even more important, let them get to their fields so they can support themselves, and lets give them a fair hearing at the dialogue table so that both sides can deal with the issues that they have and move forward.
Gaza Blockade
We must use every legitimate means at our disposal to end this blockade = Irish people should be asked to boycott all Israeli goods
Gazza
I do feel for the people of Palestine and I congatulate the people that have paid with their lives trying to break this blockade. Nobody is above the law, I can't understand why the Jewish people are treating other human beings in this way when the Germans treatment of the Jews was not any better to them in WW2.
Blockade of Gaza.
To British Government: How refreshing to see that the Conservative Party now has a more progressive foreign policy that the totally discredited Labour Party. Please keep it up and help to make the world a better place. In the long run its in everybody's interest.
Yours Sincerely, Tony Higgins, Larkspur, Carrickhill Road, Portmarnock, Co.Dublin.
one state solution
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/cking20100601
Gaza
Thanks to Trocaire for giving us the opportunity to voice our concerns re: the terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza.
We find it appalling that a people who have suffered terrible wrongs in the past are so heartless and cruel in their treatment of others. Their actions over the past decades have resulted in them becoming the oppressors of the Arab people...the very thing they fled to Europe to escape from.
We are also angry at the inaction of international governments and truly baffled by the participation of the Egyptian government in this act of oppression.
We are also disappointed in the inaction of the new American administration. With the new administration in place the world had great hopes for a more moral approach to world politics……we have yet to see it……let’s hope this changes over the coming months.
Mulhern Family Belfast
Gaza/Mulhern Family Belfast
Well said Mulhern Family Belfast and so say all of us
Gaza Blockade
I know that Israel has to protect itself from missile attacks but surely it is not beyond their ability to supervise what goes in to Gaza so that only goods needed for re-building and decent human living gets through. At least until a more permanent and acceptable solution is found.
What is happening in Gaza creates a recruitment system for thousands of future violent enemies of Israel. Unless something really fundamental changes here, this beautiful part of the world will continue to be locked in mortal combat. No one wins - not the ordinary people of Gaza and not the people of Israel. Maybe Hamas will benefit from the hatred being generated against Israel - who knows?
I recommend that Trocaire supporters and (recent) non-supporters should read the Jewish Voice for Peace website www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org. JVP has more clout as it is a Jewish site and is very well informed and supported by wise and well known people the world over.
Gaza Blockade
There would be no missile attacks on Israel if Palestine and Palestinians had their freedom to live their own lives independent of Israel.
I am just sick of the Israeli lies, and supporters of Israel giving credence to those lies!!
Israel calls itself the only democracy in the Middle East yet when Hamas were elected to power by an overwhelming majority by the Palestinian people in West Bank and Gaza in 2006 Israels response was to not recognize the new ruling Government.They immediately tightened the siege they had in place on 1.4 million people since they pulled out their 200 Israeli Settlers from Gaza in 2005! Yes the siege is 5 years on Gaza not 3!!!
When they "pulled out" of Gaza in 2005 ( in fact they never did) they gave the world the impression that Gaza was free!! A massive lie!!
They had wrecked the Airport in Gaza so no planes could fly in or out, ( an airport built with EU funding) no boats could go to sea further than 3 miles without being shot at by warships, and they were constantly attacking from the land borders by tanks and F16s.
Israel and the US refer to Hamas as a terrorist group. They also gave the same title to Yasser Afafat and the PLO. However the real terrorist all along is the Israeli terror state.! Look at the statistics: Israel has stolen 95% of Palestinian land.They have driven out millions of Palestinians to live in refugee camps in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. They hold 11,000 thousand Palestinian men women and children in prison, who never stood in a court of law to plead their case. They have murdered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since 1945.
The Palestinians in the West Bank are reduced to living in separate sealed off cities with no freedom to travel between these cities, eg a person from Ramallah cannot visit Hebron etc.
So don't tell me Palestinians need to be 'supervised' in what they get from Israel! Palestinians dont want anything from Israel, they are entitled to their FREEDOM now and must get it. Then and not until then will there be peace in the holy land.
The Jewish Community should reject Zionism
The Arabs and Jews coexisted for centuries in peace and harmony. This can happen again. The 'real' modern exodus was the forceful removal of the Arab people from the territory of the manufactured State of Isreal after the Second World War. The Jewish people have been forced to maintain this poorly conceived resolution of Statehood ever since. This conflict between Arab and Jew is likened to the Protestant and Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland. In Ireland, the Protestant community was made obliged, by its Leaders to discriminate against their Nationalist/Republican neighbours, who happened to be Catholic. One crime against the other was followed by the reverse, and so, on and on it went. With goodwill and careful consideration, we have achieved a delicate peace in Ireland. The same good future is waiting to happen for the genuine Jew and the genuine Arab.
No more donations for Trocaire
If I had known that Trocaire is so virulently anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian (ie, supporters of killers of Israeli civilians), and allows the posting of trash on its own website, such as, "israel is a racist state which is now existing through bigotry. if there is any other legitimate excuse for it being there,please let me know", then I would never have donated a cent in the first place. I certainly won't ever again.
Shame on Trocaire, de facto supporters of islamic fascism.
Unfair comment
How dare you accuse Trocaire of siding with islamic extremists: is it a FACT, not an OPINION, that the actions of Israel towards Palestine are totally outside the bounds of international law....The ill conceived idea of "creating" the "State" of Israel and entailing eviction of Arabs from their land has caused the extremist actions taken. Violence is never desireable but remember if land is stolen and no right of return is seen through and the theft of land continues as does the expansion of settler communities, this is the real act of terrorism. I am Jewish and the Torah does NOT uphold such actions. I do not believe that the Israeli "state" respects the Torah. You are not correct in your accusation that Trocaire supports terrorism but perhaps you do have a problem accepting some home truths.
Marian Newman, Clonsilla
Re: No more donations for Trocaire
It is the one-sidedness of this whole issue that sickens me. The Hamas butchers have murdered the Fatah butchers and vice versa, with both sides murdering the Israelis. And these are the murderous, fascist, West-hating, Left-hating scumbags that are adored so much by the Western Left, and who were put into power by the Palestinian people themselves. Where the hell is the unconditional condemnation of these Islamic terrorists? Or is Leftist hatred still reserved only for the Jews?
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw the photo of the recent Dublin rally on the front page of the Irish Times a few days ago (as has been pointed out many times before me), with the Hamas supporters on one side and Labour LGBT marching beside them. Such poor fools. They would hack your heads off in 10 seconds if they had half a chance, but still, hatred of Israel trumps everything else. Hatred of the only country in the entire region that would allow them a peaceful existence.
If Trocaire is really concerned about the poor and the oppressed, then I want to see them 'Take Action' against Hamas, and their butchery of civilians and their political enemies. If you're not concerned about Israeli civilians murdered at their hands, there is no shortage of Palestinian civilians who have been murdered by them too.
Will Trocaire organise letters to Hamas condemning them, their murders and their oppression/Islamic fascism?
No more donations for Trocaire THAT'S A SHAME!
Why just complain about the Jews killed. The number of Palestinians killed is a high multiple of the Jews. Israelis have a high standard of living while the Gazans are poverty stricken and imprisoned by the Israeli Government.
Sadly, what Trocaire and so many other organisations concerned with Justice and peace, including Jewish ones say is largely true.
Trocaire saves innumerable lives. Our contributions help. So did & would yours if, reconsidering the right to life, you continue to support them
Fair Play to Trocaire
Fair play to Trocaire for standing up for people's basic human rights while the rest of the world just turns a blind eye.
poor concept
If any society should know about suffering,as the palastinians/gazans are suffering .then the most qualified are the jewish people.So what I cannot understand is that they allow this suffering to continue. With all there experience through history,they should know better than anybody else what they are going through and help these people as they were helped by others , or are they just going to continue to read there creed " Shema" and not follow its example.
No more donations for Trocaire
The whole point is not to be pro or anti Israel, it's also not to be pro or anti Palestine, it's about being Pro Human!! If the sides were reversed Trocaire would be doing exactly the same thing. We will see the day when human life is respected and cherished by all, how can we hope for anything less?
More donations for Trocaire!
Open your eyes. Has it crossed your mind that it is you who is perhaps mistaken?
Trocaire - I donate on a monthly basis to you. I will increase that donation to make up for the 'loss' that you will have due to Mr. Anonymous's decision not to give you another cent.
Keep up the good work Trocaire. It is heart wraming to know that you use your voice to support innocent people in Gazza who currently have none! SHAME ON ISREAL. SHAME. SHAME. SHAME.
J Hayes.
shame on you, israel only
shame on you, israel only gets what it deserves. its a bully state, and the un shold of done something about it years ago.
Israel is a bigoted state
Israel is a bigoted state acting as a law unto itself and engaging in war crimes such as the bombing of UN buildings and schools and also the boarding of a ship in international waters and killings of passengers onboard. Its treatment of the Palestinian people is similar to that of the Nazis in Germany forcing the Jews to live in ghettos. The only reason it gets away with this is due to its continued support from USA and Britain otherwise it would face numerous sanctions.
Violation of human rights repeatedly from Israel
Would the cowardly anonymous writer please
inform him or herself before sending such an
ignorant message.
Obviously brain-washed by Israeli propaganda,
unless a self-confessed violator of human rights
in the most callous, deliberately brutal manner.
Reply to no more donations
Is that you Tom
You've allowed your anger to
You've allowed your anger to get the better of you. The letter is concerned with the effect of the blockade on civilians in Gaza: no support is expressed for paramilitary organizations.
As far a the posting of disagreeable views here is concerned, would you prefer Trócaire to stifle open discussion? I'm sure that you must realise that most of this site's visitors deplore the murder of innocent Israeli citizens as much as you do. We don't criticize Israeli citizens for being Israeli or Jews for being Jews (that sounds patronising and I'm sorry for that); but we do criticize the Israeli government for its actions.
Best wishes,
Michael
Correction to the draft text
The draft text reads "Dear Minster" instead of "Minister". I saw it before sending the letter.
Wholeheartedly agree with the letter apart from that.
Best wishes and support to Trócaire,
Michael
Yes
Israeli acts against Palestinians is inhuman. Stop brutalizing these people and taking their dignity, STOP.
Thanks for your support
Thanks everyone for your support. We in Trócaire will keep battling against the injusice of the occupation until it falls. Keep the pressure on. Things in Gaza are tough - but, through the great organisations we work with there, people know that the feelings of the world's people are with them. Keep it up - we shall overcome!
Eóin
Trócaire
Israeli Misconduct
The Stockett Family was from Kent, England. The Stockett's arrived in the New World in 1656 and located in Maryland on the Eastern Shore.
As a former Englishman I request that you support Palestinian Rights as well as reproof of Israel for her counter-productive and flagrantly provocative attacks on small unarmed ships delivering relief supplies to the Gaza Strip.
I demand that Israel be stripped of her unregistered nuclear weapons arsenal without delay.
israel
israel is a racist state which is now existing through bigotry. if there is any other legitimate excuse for it being there,please let me know.s.o n.
bad policies not bad people in Israel
I don't accept that the people of Israel are racist - they are in fact simply adopting brutal policies in the face of a perceived threat. I am however totally on the side of the Palestinians, but I would like to see Israel realize that you can't win this sort of conflict by being a bully. As the Jewish people were victims of a powerful right-wing political system themselves what is worrying in this tendency to vote right-wing, and to act right-wing. The truth is you cannot ever win a war against human right, the good guys eventually win. Israel should know this, and change these disastrous political policies they have towards their neighbors.
STOP IT NOW
I am a victim of the siege. Life has been hard in many ways. But what wories me most is the future of my children. They no nothing but Gaza, the Gaza that is impoversihed and violent. It is their whole world. It is not taking them, and other children, to anywhere good. It does not help that we do everything to avoid that they grow up hating and wanting to hurt those who hurt them so unjustly, while the world watching.
There is no goodway to explain why they have to do their studies without electcicity at home. Or to explain why their best friend cousin has to suffer from leokemia without a chance to get treatment on time. Or their aunt getting an inch from dying due to a curablehealth condition because she couldn't reach a hospital outside Gaza.
We mus help them love and trust the world. The alternative is scary.
Recent events
The Israelis are not justified in keeping food and supplies from the people of Gaza - please do everything you can to ensure this blockade on the good people there is ended
Doing everything we can
What can we do? I suggest we each, as individuals use the power of our pockets and boycott all Israeli produce currently being sold in Ireland. Today what we can do is show solidarity with the people imprisoned in Gaza by joining the march from the Garden of Remembrance to the Dept of Foreign Affairs in protest at the illegal blockade on Gaza - it starts at 2pm. Kathy