World leaders should be denouncing Israeli occupation of Palestine, says Martina Anderson MEP

ON their first full day in Palestine in a four-day fact-finding visit, Sinn Féin MEPs heard continued calls for a radical shift in how the international community acts when it comes to the plight of the Palestinian people.

Thirteen European Parliament MPs from the GUE/NGL (European United Left/Nordic Green Left) group – including three Sinn Féin MEPs – have been banned by the Israeli Government from visiting Gaza.

They are still meeting members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) as well as activists from both Palestinian and Israeli human rights and peace organisations.

The Sinn Féin MEPs are Martina Anderson, Matt Carthy and Lynn Boylan.

Martina Anderson MEP said:

“From our meetings with both peace organisations and Palestine Liberation Organisation representatives what we heard was a clear call for the international community to realise that the negotiations are over.

“Israel enters into the negotiations but then carries out deadly military attacks and land grabs ­– a direct contradiction with the peace it claims to want to work towards.

“Rather than continuing their support for talks, world leaders should be loudly denouncing the Israeli occupation of Palestine for what it is – the deliberate and systematic extermination of Palestinians from their land, nothing short of social genocide.

“We listened to representatives from organisations of both Israeli former soldiers and Palestinian ex-prisoners who are now coming together to work towards peace. This was hugely encouraging. These are the types of organisations that the EU should be supporting.”

The Irish MEP said that the GUE/NGL group also met with renowned Haaretz journalist Amira Hass and that it is “hugely important” for her expertise and insight into the reality of life under occupation to be felt in Israeli society.

The European delegation today met with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides aid to five million Palestinian refugees.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) official Salvatore Lombardo told Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan that, in his 25 years’ experience, he has never seen such destruction as that inflicted on Gaza.

“He has told us that the situation in Gaza is about five times worse than it was in 2008 and that the amount of explosives used was astronomical.”

The MEPs also visited the Al Makassed Hospital.

“It was a harrowing visit,” Lynn Boylan said. “To see a three-year-old child amputee was dreadful but to be told both her parents have also lost limbs brought home the horror of what has happened to the people of Gaza.

“One point is very clear throughout this visit. Everybody here wants politicians to visit and bear witness to what has happened. Salvatore Lombardo of UNRWA, the doctors at the hospital and the parents of the injured children are pleading for the world’s politicians to visit them, to see the destruction and horrific injuries at first-hand and to tell the world. They want the world to know what has happened and they want those responsible to be held accountable.

“We, as politicians, must pass on their message and tell their story to the world while at the same time encouraging others to visit and bear witness to the horrific situation in Gaza.”