‘They’re still stalling’: Protesters in Dublin call for Occupied Territories Bill to be passed immediately

Several hundred pro-Palestine demonstrators have called on the Government to pass the Occupied Territories Bill during a protest on O’Connell Street in Dublin’s city centre.

Speakers at the demonstration, organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), criticised delays in enacting the proposed legislation, which aims to ban trade between Ireland and Israel’s illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The demonstration convened on Saturday afternoon following reports that at least 30 Gazans – including 20 women and children – were killed in an Israeli air strike on Jabalia, the largest of the enclave’s historic refugee camps, on Friday. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip last year, which commenced in the wake of the Hamas-led October 7th attacks that claimed the lives of 1,200 people.

Peter Kelehan, a retired doctor living in Dalkey, south Co Dublin, said he was very concerned about “the terrible slaughter that’s going on in Gaza at the moment, and now, in fact, in Lebanon”.

[ Yahya Sinwar: Who was the Hamas leader? Reported architect of October 7th massacre killed in GazaOpens in new window ]

Dr Kelehan, who was carrying a Palestine and a Lebanon flag, criticised the Government’s stalling on passing the Occupied Territories Bill. “They should do it immediately.

“It can actually be enacted – there’s nothing stopping it, it doesn’t have to go to the Attorney General again. We have heard that said many times.”

Addressing the gathered demonstrators, Betty Purcell, of the IPSC, said that “while the Irish Government has talked the talk, it has not walked the walk”.

“They’re still stalling on the Occupied Territories Bill, saying it may pass an amended version after the election, as if action is not urgent,” she said.

She also criticised comments made by former Green Party leader Eamon Ryan during the week, when he suggested that aircrafts allegedly flying munitions through Irish airspace en route to Israel may not have needed to seek permission from the Department of Transport for “some of the cargo” aboard.

[ IDF reference removed from EU leaders’ criticism of attacks on peacekeepers in LebanonOpens in new window ]

Civilian aircraft carrying “munitions of war” through sovereign Irish airspace must seek an exemption from the Minister for Transport to do so. According to news website the Ditch, several planes carrying munitions bound for Israel have travelled through Irish sovereign airspace since the beginning of its assault on Gaza.

“Maybe there was toothpaste sitting alongside the bombs,” Ms Purcell said.

Ailís O’Dea, a member of Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine, condemned Israel’s targeting of healthcare facilities in Gaza – including the bombing of al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah this week, which resulted in several Palestinians burning to death. “Our Government needs to act,” she said. “Sanctions on Israel are needed now.”

A short altercation ensued when a woman, who approached demonstrators as they chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, shouted “what about the Irish?” She was quickly escorted away from the protest.

Earlier, the European Union’s foreign policy chief suggested that the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as Unifil, could be strengthened.

Peacekeepers have sustained injuries at their position between Israeli and Hizbullah lines as the conflict expands beyond Gaza. Unifil accused the Israel Defense Forces of a “direct and apparently deliberate” attack on a watchtower last week, while more than a dozen troops were treated after smoke rounds were fired in their vicinity.

Almost 400 Irish troops are stationed in Lebanon. Ireland has provided troops to the mission since 1978, with a total of 30,000 personnel having served there since its instigation. No Irish soldiers have been injured in recent clashes.

[ Safety of Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon is paramount, Taoiseach tells Israeli presidentOpens in new window ]

“UN forces have to be respected all over the world,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters at a meeting of G7 defence ministers in Naples. “Maybe the mission of the Unifil has to be reviewed but the first thing to do is a ceasefire.”

He said the decision would be made by the United Nations Security Council.

The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli forces offers an opportunity for de-escalation, he said.

“After the killing of Sinwar a new perspective is open and we have to use it to reach a ceasefire, release the remaining [Israeli] hostages and to look for a political perspective,” he said.

The Defence Forces 124th Infantry Battalion, comprising 379 Defence Forces troops, is responsible for patrolling a large area in the southeast of Lebanon, alongside personnel from Poland and Malta. The area of operations directly borders Israel and has been the site of many incoming air strikes and outgoing rocket and missile attacks in recent months.

[ Unifil forces to remain in place in southern Lebanon despite calls from Israel to moveOpens in new window ]

Although the region is technically under the jurisdiction of the Lebanese army, Hizbullah is the dominant force in the area.

Hostilities between Hizbullah, a Shia armed group affiliated with Iran, and Israel have been ongoing since the October 7th attacks, and have ignited sporadically for decades.

Israel has carried our aerial strikes beyond southern Lebanon to the capital of Beirut in recent weeks, while Hizbullah has expanded rocket and drone attacks to Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, and Caesarea, where one launch on Saturday reportedly targeted the house of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. – Additional reporting by Reuters

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024