DCC motion condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza Flotilla, supports for second flotilla & Irish ship

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Monday September 20, 2010 21:17 by Kev - IPSC

Motion also calls on the Irish Government to review arms purchases & EU trading links with Israel

Press Release, Monday 20th September 2010, 9pm

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) tonight welcomed a motion passed by Dublin City Council which condemned “the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s aid mission that resulted in deaths and injuries of many of those attempting to bring much needed aid” to the besieged Gaza Strip and called for support for the Irish Ship To Gaza campaign and the Second Freedom Flotilla due to depart in late October. The motion further called on the Irish Government to review the purchases of military equipment from Israel, and to discontinue the EU’s preferential trade agreement with Israel.

The full motion, tabled by Sinn Fein Councillor Criona Ní Dhálaigh, seconded by Labour’s Killian Forde and passed unanimously, is appended to this press release below[1]. A second motion, tabled by Lord Mayor Gerry Breen of Fine Gael, tasking the Council to “examine the possibility of twinning with Gaza City” was referred to the Protocol Committee for further discussion.

Welcoming the motion, IPSC National Chairperson Freda Hughes said: “The IPSC would like to congratulate Dublin City Council for adopting this motion. As representatives of the people of Dublin, we believe you have accurately echoed the feelings of anger and demands for accountability that we witnessed on the streets of Dublin and nationwide, and in the letters pages of the Irish media in the aftermath of the Israeli commando hijacking of the Freedom Flotilla and the MV Rachel Corrie in May and June.”

Ms Hughes continued: “This is an extremely positive motion, and we are glad that the Council will be supporting the humanitarian Second Freedom Flotilla and the plans to send an Irish ship as part of it on this civil society to civil society mission. The IPSC reiterates the call from Dublin City Council for the Irish government not to grant military contracts to Israeli arms companies and to press at EU level for Israel‘s suspension from the Euro-Med Agreement until such time as it abides by its human rights obligations under Article 2 of that agreement.”

Ms Hughes concluded: “The IPSC would again like to commend Dublin City Council for taking another principled stand for the rights of the Palestinian people[2], and would especially like to thank Cllr. Ní Dhalaigh for tabling this important motion. We would also like to thank Lord Mayor Breen for introducing the possibility of twinning Dublin with Gaza, and hope the discussion of the protocol committee to which the motion has been referred will have a positive outcome.”

Notes

[1] The full motion reads as follows:

Tabled by: COUNCILLOR CRÍONA NÍ DHÁLAIGH (Sinn Fein)

This Council condemns the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s aid mission that resulted in deaths and injuries of many of those attempting to bring much needed aid to the besieged Strip, which has been subject to an illegal Israeli blockade for nearly four years.

Commends those Irish citizens who participated in this humanitarian mission to bring 10,000 tones of aid to the Palestinian people, in the beleaguered region of Gaza.

Supports the Irish Ship to Gaza Campaign and the sending of another Irish ship to participate in the Second Freedom Flotilla in October 2010.

Recognising that this attack was an affront to international law and has endangered the lives of Irish citizens, calls on the Irish Government not to purchase arms and ammunition from Israeli weapons manufacturers for the Irish Defence Forces, to use its influence internationally to end the siege of Gaza and to discontinue the EU’s preferential trade agreement with Israel; and to further support and seek the backing of other countries for the new international aid mission to Gaza which will ensure that necessary vital supplies reach the suffering people of that besieged area.

[2] In May Dublin City Council passed a resolution calling on the City Manager not to sign or renew any contracts with French multinational Veolia – the operators of the LUAS who have also tendered for the Metro North project. Veolia operate Israeli rail, bus and waste services in the illegally occupied West Bank, making them complicit in Israel’s contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.