PRO-Palestine protesters from across Munster marched through Limerick last weekend in opposition to Israel’s ongoing violence and killing in Gaza, one branch of a united nationwide movement.
As members of the Irish-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) took to the streets of cities and towns across Ireland as part of a national day of action, a strong call also rang out across Limerick demanding government sanctions to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.
Limerick and Tipperary IPSCs marched through the city centre last Saturday afternoon (September 6) in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Other protests organised by the IPSC took place at the same time around the country in Cork, Galway, Waterford, Carlow, and Navan.
Set up in 2001, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign says it exists to mobilise people in Ireland to support the political, civil, and human rights of all Palestinians, along with their national and democratic rights, including the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants driven out from their native land.
Run by volunteers, IPSC campaigns for freedom for the Palestinian people through raising public awareness about Israel’s settler-colonial regime, and promoting boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) as a means by which people in Ireland can help to bring these crimes to an end, similar to how apartheid in South Africa was finally toppled.
Crowds gathered on Bedford Row for the peaceful IPSC protest last weekend, brandishing banners and Palestinian flags, hoping to highlight Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, the plight of Palestinian refugees, and the struggle of Palestinian citizens for full equality and rights.
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign views the siege of Gaza as a form of cruel and illegal collective punishment. Those concerned about the plight of the Palestinians, IPSC suggests, should write to supermarkets and ask them to stop stocking Israeli goods.
“This siege has kept Gaza on the brink of a humanitarian disaster for over a decade, a policy described by an Israeli official as being to ‘put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger’,” an IPSC spokesperson said.
IPSC chairperson Zoe Lawlor said members marched in Limerick last Saturday, as they have almost every week for nearly two years, to show solidarity with Palestine.
“We are disgusted that almost two years into apartheid Israel’s genocidal crimes in Gaza, and its ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, our government is yet to impose sanctions,” Zoe said.
“That Ireland is one of Israel’s biggest trading partners, that weapons to commit war crimes travel through Irish airspace, and that the US military continues to be allowed to use Shannon Airport, is deeply shameful.”
She continues that “like so many places around the country, we have built a community of solidarity here in Limerick and we are resolute in demanding our government takes action to end the culture of impunity that has enabled the mass murder and now forced starvation of people in Gaza, there must be immediate sanctions, including enacting the Occupied Territories Bill in full, with both goods and services covered. The government must reflect the will of the majority of people and must act now.”
