Irish peace activists targeted by Israelis
Last week, Irish peace activist in Palestine, Caoimhe Butterly, was shot in the leg by an Israeli soldier, who purposely aimed at her while she was trying to shield a group of children. A UN aid worker, Iain Hook, was shot and fatally injured.
In the last two weeks, a few Irish solidarity activists have come back from Palestine, having witnessed and experienced what Palestinians have to go through every day. They travelled to help with the olive harvest but had to confront continuous attacks by the army and settlers and the construction of a "peace wall" - which is being built between six and eight kilometres inside the occupied territories, robbing Palestinian communities of their arable land, their fruit trees and more important, water.
One of these Irish activists is Ray O'Reilly, who still bears the marks of Israeli military response to peaceful resistance on his head, shoulder and arm. O'Reilly was involved with the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign but until he travelled to the Middle East, what was happening in Palestine was for him only another cause to espouse. However, his contact with the Palestinian population and the harsh realities of Israeli occupation will not be easily forgotten.
How was your reception by the Palestinians?
The reception by the Palestinians was unbelievable. Here in Ireland we heard about "Ireland of the Welcomes", and how friendly Irish people are. Really, if you want to meet friendship and humanity in its purest form, go to Palestine and meet Palestinian people. When they say "my house is your house", they mean it. They feed you, they look after you and they appreciate the smallest thing you do for them. People often ask in moments of despair "what can I do to help you?" and they will answer, "you are here, that's what is important".
From my point of view, it was a privilege, a honour to stay there, to stand alongside them, to take the kicks and blows and the rifle-butts, the live rounds and all that.
What did your work entail?
I went there to help with the olive harvest, which takes place from October to February. Mostly I understood I would act as part of an international human shield to protect farmers from attacks by the border police, by the soldiers and by the settlers, and that it would keep them from being shot or wounded and keep them safe in their own olive groves. But as things developed, it became a struggle against the building of this perimeter fence inside the perimeter wall. It was a struggle to try to slow down the annexation of the land, water, olive groves, citrus orchards, etc.
How did the Israeli Army and the settlers behave?
We had two or three encounters with the settlers. If I could draw an analogy, and maybe many people will disagree with me, they fill the role of the unionist-loyalist people we have in the North, who are descendents of settlers. They adopted the same attitude; the Israeli settlers are stealing the land of the indigenous population, the Palestinian people.
The soldiers showed gross lack of discipline. They just shot on a whim. Any sort of opposition would attract live rounds, rubber coated bullets, tear gas, sound grenades...
Were you attacked while collecting the olives?
There was an incursion by settlers where I was, but it was a small thing, and we were visited by the soldiers on a couple of times. I and an American activist, Lisa - who spoke Hebrew - played the role of negotiators. But when we move to Jayyus things were very bad because we tried to slow down these diggers that the army was using to clear the land. What they would do is to come at 8 o'clock in the morning; they dig up the olive trees, and they bulldoze everything in their way on a stretch 250 metres wide, so you lose your land and your trees in one go.
That was very difficult, because the soldiers would react in the same way every day. We would try to stop them and they would use live rounds, tear gas... the usual.
How do you think the Palestinian population stand all that pressure?
They are courageous people. They will express their opposition against the building of this fence and they will stand up to it every day. Each day was a rerun of the previous one.
The people stand up to the soldiers, but they know that they do not have many friends in the world at government level. The US and the British are so pro-Israeli now that they are prepared to put up with anything the Israelis do.
Do you think the Palestinians still believe in the possibility of a peace process?
That is a difficult question to answer. They are near despair, but they are a bit like the Irish, they have a great sense of hope and they have, much more than any other nation I have met, an unbelievable impulse for democracy. Even the way they run their local municipalities is an example of democracy. And that is the lie about Israel being the only democratic state in the Middle East.
What is the feeling in relation to the international community?
They are very disappointed with the European Union. They say that as a counterbalance to the US it has not been of any help. The EU makes statement after statement, very much as our minister of Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, who said that if Israel does not withdraw he will make another statement. That's a joke.
It is only the internationalists who are there to help them. Yasser Arafat said three weeks ago in a speech that he would like to pay tribute to the brave internationalists - American, British, German, Spanish, Swish, Irish - who "are putting the United Nations to shame; they are doing what the United Nations should be doing".
d after being there for five weeks, did your impression of Palestine change?
The image we had of Palestine before going was informed by the established media, and what you find is completely different. Much of what is going on is not reported. Endless curfews, where people are imprisoned in their own houses, in their own villages; children denied access to school for two three days a wee;, people denied access to medical attention... Palestinians have no human rights. Israelis view the Palestinians as less than human and when they deal with people they consider less than human, they can do what they like.
Are international observers now targets for the Israeli army?
They are now shooting at internationalists. This may frighten some people from going there. Caoimhe has been working there for nearly ten months, and she was injured by shrapnel before, but this was a deliberate leg shot to take her out of action. My feeling is that they are changing their policy to get rid of internationalists.
In my case, we were rushing at the soldiers to try and stop them from shooting when I got whacked on the head. It was nothing compared to the injuries others suffered. I hit my shoulder and got a bullet burn on my arm. I was just lucky.
After that, my face was on the television all over the Arab world on at least three occasions. My plea was to the international family, to please, wake up and realise what is happening in Palestine.
We should put pressure on our government and on the international family to do something about it. What the Palestinians need is an international United Nations force to move in between Palestine and Israel, and to make of Palestine a United Nations protectorate so at least people will have an opportunity to survive.
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