PhD researchers, LLM students, graduates, staff, as well as undergraduates of the Irish Centre for Human Rights or NUIG School of Law wishing to endorse and sign this statement can do so through this Google Form link until noon (Irish time) on Monday, 24 May 2021.
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The Palestinian people have been rising up to challenge over a century of ongoing Zionist settler colonialism and the continued denial of their individual and collective rights since the beginning of the Nakba (‘catastrophe’) in 1948. Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line and in exile are reaffirming the unity of their struggle in the face of decades of colonial fragmentation, erasure, and dispossession.
As PhD researchers, LLM students, graduates, undergraduates, and staff of the Irish Centre for Human Rights and School of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway, we recognise Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people as a whole. This recognition obligates us, as scholars and practitioners committed to fundamental human rights and the international rule of law, to bring attention to the reality on the ground.
We stand in solidarity with the indigenous Palestinian people and support their right of resistance to Israel’s regime of apartheid, settler colonialism, and occupation. We affirm that the latest Israeli assaults against the Palestinian people are neither ‘clashes’ nor a ‘civil war’ and must be understood within the broader context of colonial structural violence, since the start of and as a necessary consequence of Zionist settler colonisation of historic Palestine.
The protests taking place today across historic Palestine and throughout the rest of the world are a testament to the failure of Israeli fragmentation and evidence Palestinian determination to exercise their rights to self-determination and return. Now, Palestinian refugees are physically exercising their right of return by storming into their homeland from Jordan and Lebanon, where they have been exiled for the past seven decades. In this, we are reminded that decolonisation is not a metaphor.
Current attempts to uproot Palestinian families from the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah have come to represent a microcosm of the ongoing Nakba and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Attempts to resist this ongoing dispossession, have been met with Israeli military attacks against worshipers in Al-Aqsa mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, the suppression of protests on either side of the Green Line, the lynching of ‘48 Palestinians by Zionist settler mobs together with the Israeli police and with the full backing of the Israeli state, and the full-scale aerial bombardments of besieged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in what undoubtedly amounts to crimes under the Rome Statute.
We reaffirm this crucial contextualisation in the face of a Zionist narrative that has systematically sought to distort facts on the ground in order to shield Israeli perpetrators from accountability and to obscure the reality of its apartheid regime. Ireland was the first Western country to impose sanctions on the apartheid regime in South Africa, on foot of the Dunnes Stores strikes, and must take action against Israeli apartheid today.
As academics, researchers, and practitioners in international law and human rights, we undertake to combat narrations which facilitate the domination and oppression of the Palestinian people as a whole, both across historic Palestine and as refugees and exiles denied their right of return and strive to contribute to the Palestinian struggle for decolonisation and emancipation in our own work, research, and teaching.
In so doing, we stress that those best placed to educate on the question of Palestine are Palestinians, and that failing to centre their voices necessarily contributes to the continuation, and consolidation, of Zionist settler colonial erasure. In light of the above, and recalling the leadership of Ireland in opposing South African apartheid, we call on the Irish government to stand with Palestine and:
- Recognise that the Palestinian people as a whole are subjected to an apartheid regime within the meaning of the 1973 Apartheid Convention and 1998 Rome Statute, as increasingly recognised by states, including South Africa and Namibia, civil society, and UN experts, and that this regime has been constructed and continues to be maintained within the broader context of settler colonialism;
- Immediately support and adopt the Occupied Territories Bill, in line with Ireland’s obligations under international law, and immediately cease hiding behind secretive and unfounded concerns of unconstitutionality or incompatibility with European Union law, supposedly outlined in an Attorney General opinion;
- Take meaningful and effective steps, at the national, European, and international levels, including at the UN, to address and bring an end to the root causes of Palestinian oppression, including the illegal blockade, closure, and now relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the prolonged occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory, including annexation of East Jerusalem, the expansion and maintenance of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, the denial of the fundamental rights of ‘48 Palestinians, the categorical denial of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and so on; in particular, we call upon Ireland to impose targeted sanctions on Israel until the inalienable and fundamental rights of the Palestinian people as a whole are realised, in their entirety;
- Leverage its position as a member of the UN Security Council and EU to push for immediate and mandatory sanctions on Israel, both under Chapter VII of the UN Charter and the relevant mechanisms at the disposal of the EU;
- Uphold the rights to freedom of expression, protest, and to engage in boycotts; mindful of the decision of the French government to impose a blanket ban on protests in solidarity with the Palestinian people, it is imperative that Ireland ensures that all persons living in Ireland have the full and unconditional right to voice their support for Palestine, and are not subjected to either direct or indirect hindrances from the state in this regard; and
- Reaffirm its unconditional support for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in its ongoing investigation into the commission of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the crime against humanity of apartheid, and urge the Office to undertake this task swiftly, with a view of bringing those most responsible of such crimes, whether they are members of the Israeli civilian or military hierarchies, to trial in The Hague.
To our colleagues in Galway, elsewhere in Ireland, and abroad, we urge you to show and voice your solidarity with the Palestinian people, including by contributing to shifting the narrative on Palestine from that of ‘Israeli self-defence’ in a conflict too ‘complex’ to understand, to one which more accurately captures the reality on the ground: a settler colonial and apartheid regime imposed on and designed to erase the Palestinian people.
We support and endorse the day of action in solidarity with the Palestinian uprising and general strike called for by the Palestinian people as a whole today, Tuesday, 18 May 2021. We urge you to engage with social media and in-person campaigns and events, while respecting social distancing, to lend your support to Palestinian civil society and grassroots organisations working on the ground, in particular in Gaza, and to amplify their voices and coverage of the ongoing Nakba with a view to bringing it to an end.
For more information, see:
- DecolonizePalestine
- Al-Shabaka – The Palestinian Policy Network
- Reading List by Dr. Yara Asi
- Reading List by Al-Shabaka
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List of signatures:
- Aaleen Khalid
- Adam Spollen (he/him)
- Ailidh Robinson (she/her)
- Áine Smyth
- Aisling O’Reilly (she/her)
- Alaghodaro Obayuwana
- Alayna Small (she/her)
- Alex Coughlan (they/them)
- Alice Abboud, EdD
- Allison O’ Mara
- Allison West
- Amanda Morrison (she/her)
- Amanda Poitras
- Amanie Issa
- Amber Shortt
- Amina Adanan (she/her)
- Andrea Quinlan
- Andrea Spak (she/her)
- Andrew Bollard
- Anish Saha (he/him)
- Anka Maric
- Annabelle Comer-Halliwell (she/her)
- Anna Deery
- Anna Maria Mullally
- Anna Sparynska
- Anne-Marie Hearne (she)
- Annie Lovisetto (she/her)
- Annmarie Townsend (she/her)
- Antoni Mansilla (he/him)
- Aoife Daly
- Aoife Ni Dhonaile
- Aoife O Donoghue
- Aoife Price
- Aouda Zbeidy
- Aseel Ghaben (she)
- Beatrice Canossi (she/her)
- Belen González Del Amo
- Ben Creaven
- Benjamin Gaches
- Bethany Alhaidari
- Bridget Geoghegan (she/her)
- Bríd Sheehan
- Bróna McDermott (she/her)
- Brosnan Miss
- Caitlin McLaughlin (she/her)
- Caroline Sweeney
- Cassandra Murtagh (she/her)
- Catherine Joyce (she/her)
- Chantelle McInern
- Charity A. A. Boateng (she/her)
- Christina Challis (she/her)
- Cian Mac Gearailt (sé/é)
- Ciara Murphy (she/her)
- Ciaran Wallace
- Ciara Otway
- Claire Raissian
- Cllr. Owen Hanley (he/him)
- Clodagh Holland
- Clodagh Mckenna (she/her)
- C Martin
- Colette G. St-Onge (she/her)
- Conall Maguire
- Cristina García Garrido (she)
- Daisy Nabasitu
- Dáithí Byrne (he/him)
- Deborah Lawson
- Diadeen Ahmed
- Dillon McMahon (he/him)
- Dr Anita Ferrara
- Dr Edel Hughes (she/her)
- Dr Hasret Cetinkaya
- Dr Michelle Farrell
- Dr Noemi Magugliani (she/they)
- Dr Sandra Duffy (she/they)
- Dr Susan Power
- Éamonn Meehan
- Eilidh McGowan (she/her)
- Eleanor McNamara (she/her)
- Elise Fabre
- Elizabeth Durón Coppola
- Elizabeth Kennedy
- Elizabeth Murray
- Ellen Donohoe (she/her)
- Ellen Goodwin (she/her)
- Emily Hart
- Emily O’Reilly (she/her)
- Emma Kelly
- Emma Rose Sheridan (she/her)
- Eoghan (John) Finn (he/him)
- Erika Hayes
- Faten Alsourani (she/her)
- Fatima Sawan
- Favour Offia (he/him)
- Flavia Castro
- Francesca Stramare (she/her)
- Frank Wall
- Gabrielle Nava (she/her/hers)
- Gerry Liston (he/him)
- Gill Quinn (she/her)
- Grace Carolan (she/her)
- Gráinne Nì Chonchúir
- Haley Myatt (she/her)
- Hannah Callaghan she/her
- Hanorah Hardy (she/her)
- Hayley Mulligan
- Hirohiko Katayama
- Holly Lingwood (she/her)
- Isaac Mackin Gray (he/him)
- Ishani Cordeiro
- Isla Brennan
- James Conroy
- Jane Finn (her/she)
- Jane O’Sullivan
- Jeanne Barret
- Jenny Conroy
- Jenny Ni Bhaolain
- Jeremy Bingham
- Jessica Howard (she/they)
- John Condon
- John Reynolds
- John Whyte
- José Henríquez Leiva
- Joseph Loughnane
- Joseph Powderly
- Judit Villena Rodó (she/her)
- Kaia Dorrity (she/her)
- Kate Bermingham
- Kate Mac Sweeney (she/her)
- Kate Muldowney
- Kate O’Sullivan (she/her)
- Katey Tolan (she/her)
- Katie Delapp
- Keelin Barry (she/her)
- Kelsey Rhude (she/her)
- Kerry Lawless (she/her)
- Kevin Clarke
- Kieran Danfulani
- Kiersten McMahon
- Kim Brewster
- Koshiki Tanaka (She/Her)
- Lauren Burke
- Linn Cedervall (she)
- Lisa Hughes
- Lorna Ni Shuilleabhain (she)
- Louise Barbazanges (she/her)
- Maëlle Noir (she/her)
- Maeve O’Rourke
- Maha Abdallah (she/her)
- Mairéad O’Driscoll (she/her)
- Manon Hubert
- Maria Ni Fhlatharta (she/her)
- Marie-Anne Michel
- Marie Dilinger (she/her)
- Marie Flynn (she/her)
- Mary Cosgrove (she/her)
- Méabh Temple (she/her)
- Mohamed Elsayeh
- Mohammad Shafiq
- Muireann O’Sullivan (they/them)
- Nadia Quinn Sciascia
- Natalya Pestova
- Niamh Keady-Tabbal (she/her)
- Nicola Circelli
- Nicolas de Wergifosse
- Nikola Davis (she)
- Nourhan Assad
- Oliver Harte
- Oliver Heffernan (he/him)
- Orla White (she/her)
- Owen Moriba Momoh KaiCombey (he/him/his)
- Padma Dolma
- Patrick McGee
- Paul Fallon
- Pauline Hasdenteufel (she/her)
- Pauline Pfaff
- Pearce Clancy (he/him)
- Peter Magliocco (he/him)
- Philip Collins
- Poonam Shokar (she/her)
- Prisca Chipao (she/her)
- Rachel Meaney (she/her)
- Rachel Reynolds
- Rania Muhareb (she/her)
- Rebecca Naous
- Reem Mujadedi
- Reshma Das
- Rhonda Ferguson
- Riaz
- Roisin Burke
- Roisin Marie Flynn
- Róisín McGrath
- Rosie Darragh
- Ross Fitzpatrick (he/him)
- Rowan Hickie (she/her)
- Sally Anne Corcoran
- Samantha Aglae
- Sam Crowell (he/they)
- Sarah Corsini (she/her)
- Sarah Freyne
- Saranne Hogan
- Semiha Elif Yararbaş (she/her)
- Shane Darcy
- Shannon McCrossan
- Sheba Gray
- Sheila Goojha
- Siddhi Joshi
- Sien Crivits (she/her)
- Sinead Conaty
- Sinead Corcoran (she/her)
- Síofra Mac Mahon
- S Mac Sweeney
- Sorcha Gilheany (she/her)
- Stefano Angeleri
- Steven Silke (he/him)
- Suhail Ahmad
- Susie Kiely
- Tahseen Elayyan
- Tamara Doyle (she/her)
- Teresa Goojha
- Tessa Lambrich
- Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan
- Thomas Wilkinson
- Tomás Carlos Biggins (he/him)
- Úna Reynolds (she/her)
- Vanina Trojan
- Warsame Ali Garare
- Wasekera Chiphazi Banda (she/her)
- Wesam Ahmad – Owies
- Yassin Osman (he/him)
- Zita Mahmood
- Zora Tokhi
19 people endorsed this statement anonymously.
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