BLAGAROON

HEROES WELCOME IN
DUBLIN FOR RETURNING
GAZA FLOTILLA
PARTICIPANTS:

The Irish participants in the Gaza Aid Flotilla have returned to a hero’s welcome in Dublin. The first contingent who were kidnapped and taken hostage by the Israeli pirates last Monday arrived on Friday, 04.06.10 and those detained from the piratical seizure of the Irish/Malysian ship “Rachel Corrie” early on Friday morning last arrived this morning at Dublin Airport.

The Irish Palestine Solidarity Committee organised a press conference in Dublin on Monday, 07.06.10, where Captain Derek Graham of the “Rachel Corrie” and his comrades Mrs Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for Peace work in Northern Ireland) and Mr Denis Halliday, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, each gave graphic accounts of their sea journey to Gaza and the events of the piratical seizure of the ship by Zionist Terrorists in the early hours of Friday last. All three emphasised the peaceful nature and humanitarian purpose of their journey and insisted that they were not separate from the rest of the flotilla in intention and purpose and vehemently rejected the lies of the Israeli Government’s propaganda machine which has endeavoured to slander everyone connected with the flotilla with the tag of terrorism and hate.

They pointed out that their ship was inspected in Ireland and when they stopped in Malta, by independent observers who found no illegal goods or contraband on board and all the hatches were sealed before they continued their journey.. Captain Derek Graham stated that they offered to halt at sea ahead of their arrival at Gaza and allow United Nations inspectors to examine the ship again but, this offer was rejected by the Israeli Government. Captain Graham paid tribute to the Malysian Peace Activists who were also on the “Rachel Corrie”, thanking them for their continuous support and financing of the purchase of the ship and its restoration. He also praised the bravery and courage of the Malaysians in the face of Israel’s terror tactics in boarding the ship. The group also reported that all films and photographs taken on board the “Rachel Corrie” were saved from the hands of the Israeli pirate forces and will be available for international distribution very shortly which will further give the lie to the Israeli propaganda concerning their piratical actions.

On Saturday, 05.06.10 an emergency meeting of the Irish Labour Party was held in the meeting hall of the Dublin Mayoralty which was chaired by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councilllor Emer Costello. Here it was announced by the senior Labour Party figures, Mícheál D. Ó hUigínn, spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Joe Costello, T.D., spokesperson on European Affairs and Human Rights and Prionnsias de Rossa, Member of the European Parliament for Dublin and Chair of the European Parliament Delegation to Palestine, that a submission was being prepared for the Irish Attorney General to prepare a case for the International Court of Justice against Israel for Piracy, Murder, Kidnap and unlawful detention and transport of free citizens of Ireland and other countries and unlawful seizure of property in international waters. Netanyahu, Barak and others to be nominated as defendants. The meeting then adjourned to the massive public protest demonstration which began in Dublin at 2pm the same day.

The Dublin protest began at 2pm with a brief ceremony at the Irish Garden of Remembrance in the city centre where tribute was paid to the 9 Peace Activists who lost their lives as a result of the Israeli terror attack on the Turkish vessel “Mavi Marmara” last week. Then there was a march by several thousand people to the Irish Foreign Ministry building close to the Irish Parliament in another part of the city. There, the large and angry crowd headed by Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Emer Costello, gave a thunderous reception to the Irish Peace Activists, Dr Fintan Lane and Fiachra Ó Luáin who had just returned to Ireland from illegal detention in Israel, having been on the Flotilla which was attacked by the Israeli pirates.

From the platform, Ms Patricia Comerford, Secretary General of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions announced the decision of the Swedish Marine Trade Unions at a special conference in Stockholm to consider boycott, disinvestment and severing of all relations with Israel, to implement from 15.06.10 a total boycott in Swedish ports of all Israeli shipping which will be prevented from landing or unloading in Sweden, with a request to other European Union federations to join the boycott. Ms Comerford pledged that the ICTU would support this decision and implement a similar boycott in Irish ports. It was also announced that the South African Federation of Trade Unions would follow suit and in addition request all municipalites to boycott Israeli goods and cease any trade relations with Israel.

It was announced to loud cheering that the Donegal County Council in the northwest of Ireland and the native county of Fiachra Ó Luáin, referred to above, had, at a special meeting, declared the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland persona non grata in the County with immediate effect. This resolution will now be passed to all other County and City councils in Ireland for repetition in each. There were repeated loud calls from the crowd for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador from Ireland and the imposition of international sanctions on Israel.

Also speaking at the meeting were David Landy, Secretary, Irish Palestine Solidarity Committee, Mícheál D. Ó hUigínn,T.D., Labour Party spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, T.D., Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs who was barred from boarding the peace flotilla by the Cyprus Government, along with Fianna Fáil T.D., Chris Andrews and Senator Mark Daly. This raises the question of whether the Cyprus Government had foreknowledge of Israel’s intentions and stopped the Irish politicians from boarding in order to avoid a serious complication of the international incident if any harm came to them like the assassination of the Turkish Peace Activists on board the “Mavi Marmara”.

The meeting accepted with acclaim a proposal to mount a human blockade of the Israeli Embassy offices in Dublin beginning at 7am on Tuesday, 08.06.10. This is being organised at present. Israeli officials and diplomats will be prevented from gaining access to their offices from that time rendering their Embassy dysfunctional.

Mounting world-wide protest all last week against Israeli state terror, piracy and murder is now being transformed into concrete actions which have the potential to bring the Zionist State and its criminal war machine to its knees in a very short time indeed. We in Ireland will be in the forefront of this and we are determined to continue until our aims are fulfilled. We are no longer prepared to wait for governments to act, the people themselves have now been aroused to action and the people will be unstoppable.

FearFeasa Mac Léinn

Áth Cliath/DUBLIN, 08 Meitheamh/June 2010.