To hell or to Connacht

By Martin Rafferty

What we are witnessing now in Palestine is the final stage of the Zionist project of colonisation of this part of the Middle East.

In the words of Ronald Storrs, the British governor of Jerusalem between 1917 to 1926, to finally have their own Jewish Ulster in Palestine.

This is one of many examples of the intertwingling of history between Ireland and Palestine.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1917 the British army were welcomed through the gates of Jerusalem as saviours by the Palestinian people, much the same as by some within the nationalist people of Belfast in the late 1960s during the programs of that time.

Like here in Ireland it didn’t take long for the British to show their true colors and any attempt by Palestinians to oppose the unfolding colonisation project of the British was brutally suppressed and in 1922 the infamous Black and Tans, who did a ‘great’ job in Ireland, were sent to Palestine.

After the forced partition of Ireland and with the outworking’s of the Belfour Declaration of 1917 to create a Jewish state in Palestine, Britain sent most of its apparatus and tactics from Ireland to Palestine.

And finally in 1948 the scaffolding was removed and Britain handed over control of Palestinians to the Zionists.700,000 Palestine were forced from their farms, towns and villages, and many more have faced the same fate to this very day. There are estimated to be almost 7 million Palestinian refugees world wide and millions more displaced within Palestine.

Many people were told by the British that this was just a temporary measure for their own safety and they would be able to return the keys they held so dear to their homes along with their dreams. This has been passed down to the next generation and has become a symbol for the right to return to their home land.

So called Israel, from its creation to now has continually and with impunity committed war crimes and atrocities against the Palestinian people and has been condemned throughout the world for its actions. There have been over 50 UN resolution concerning so called Israel and time and time again they have been found guilty of breaking international law. It is also common knowledge that it has developed nuclear arms contrary to international law but time and again Britain and the USA have vetoed any attempt to hold it to account.

Palestinians have tried every avenue to protect themselves and their homeland from this onslaught. and in 1993 reluctantly signed the Oslo Accords acknowledging Israeli sovereignty in return for the possibility of a Palestinian state and the safety of the Palestinian people. All done under the watchful eye of the Clinton administration. The words the Palestinians were told to use were very similar the the words Republicans would have to use here in Ireland a few years later in the Good Friday Agreement and would have the same effect i.e. the splitting of the the resistance with former comrades being used by the occupier to oppress their own people. Words like pledge to reject violence, acknowledge Israel, acknowledge British sovereignty in Ireland, Israel deciding if Palestinians would get their own state and what kind of state it would be and Britain deciding if Ireland would become one state and what kind of state it would be.

What we are seeing unfolding before our very eyes is the final stage of the Zionist project. The creators of this illegal state, Britain with the help of the USA have seen an opportunity with events in Europe, The rise of fascisms once again, populism being the order of the day within the political class, the total collapse of the left and the fear paralysing people to speak out about. The British and USA warships massing at the beaches of Gaza are not their to protect so call Israel from the Palestinians. They are there to send a message to any Arab nation who is thinking of helping Palestine as its final lands are cleared to make way for the extension of of the state of Israel, to think again.

In 1650 Oliver Cromwell yelled “To Hell Or Connaught” to the Irish people in the attempt to clear our lands to make way for the British settlers. Today Benjamin Netanyahu is yelling to the Palestinian people in Gaza to clear the last of their lands. Is this their time, The Fascists, the 1 per cent the establishment, or whatever you want to call them, or is the time of us to get off our knees and say enough is enough.

* Martin Rafferty, a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, is an activist with the BDS campaign for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people.

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