Republican News · Thursday 4 April 2002

Defend Palestine

Ariel Sharon has defied the United Nations and any notion of common sense with his full scale military invasion of Palestinian territory, a move made in defiance of the United Nations and guaranteed to exacerbate an already critical situation in the Middle East.

As we go to print, hundreds of Palestinian fighters are reportedly seeking sanctuary in Christian churches in Bethlehem from invading Israeli forces. Many of their comrades are dead, others injured or arrested along with every other Palestinian male who can be found. Palestinian towns and refugee camps have been sealed off from the outside world, as Israeli forces get on with their invasion away from the prying eyes of international journalists and human rights activists. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remains under siege in his Ramallah headquarters, surrounded by his closest aides and human rights activist Caoimhe Butterly, a courageous young Irish woman who has decided to stay as a human shield to protect the Palestinian leader from Israeli attack.

Butterly is familiar to An Phoblacht. She reported for us from Chiapas, Mexico, two years ago, when Zapatista prisoners were on hunger strike calling for the release of political prisoners. She is no stranger to difficult situations or to the struggle for justice and we commend her courage. Two of her friends are currently fasting while chained to a tree outside the Israeli embassy in Dublin, drawing attention to the plight of the Palestinian people and to the danger Butterly faces.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has expressed support for the beleaguered Palestinians and their leader. He has pointed out that the daily violence is making the task of building a sustainable peace in the Middle East all the more difficult. "Ariel Sharon's time in power has been marked by repressive actions akin to the worst years of British oppression in Ireland," he said.

As the situation deteriorates by the hour, one central fact remains. There will be no peace in the Middle East until the rights of the Palestinian people to nationhood are respected. Sharon, the butcher of Sabra and Shatilla, has shown this past week that all he has to offer is death, destruction and a guarantee of ongoing conflict.

If there is to be any chance of peace, wiser heads in Israel must prevail.