Israel challenged to genuine talks by Palestinian Ambassador at Sinn Féin Ard Fheis

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

Dr Hikmat Ajurri thanked Gerry Adams and other Sinn Féin leaders and activists, including former Hunger Striker Pat Sheehan MLA, for their solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers

THE Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland – speaking at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Castlebar, County Mayo, on Saturday – has credited republicans' "visionary leadership" in the Peace Process in Ireland and overseas.

Dr Hikmat Ajurrri (pictured) thanked Gerry Adams and other Sinn Féin leaders and activists, including former Hunger Striker  Pat Sheehan MLA, for their solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers.

He told some of the nearly 2,000  Sinn Féin delegates and visitors attending the 106th Ard Fheis (the first-ever in Connacht) that Sinn Féin's achievements "give hope and strength to us, the Palestinians after we have been miraculously recovered from the ashes of Al-Nakba ('Catastrophe') of 1948" .

He said Palestinians want to negotiate a permanent solution but it seems Israeli leaders only want "permanent negotiations".

Dr Ajurri explained:

❝This catastrophe  which all the Palestinians commemorate with pain  and sorrow on the 15th of May every year was intended to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians by forcibly expelling them in order to uproot them and erase their presence which was rooted in the depths of their land and depths of history. 

In those dark days of 1948, 750 000 Palestinians were torn from their homes and displaced from their then beautiful and prosperous country – now called Israel – to refugee camps within and outside of Palestine in one of the most dreadful campaigns of ethnic cleansing  and dispossession in modern history.

After 65 years of misery and living in refugee camps, Palestine  on the 29th of last November, was issued with a birth certificate by the  realisation of the state of Palestine. However, in short of full recognition of our state, we believe that recognising Palestine as a non-member state of the UN by 74% of the UN member states, including Ireland, is a significant step in the process of rectifying the unprecedented historical injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people since 1948 at the hands of the Zionists.

On this recognition I feel obliged to thank and to congratulate the international community – in particular Ireland – for this upgrade because it is not only a victory to the Palestinians but a victory for world peace and the principles of the UN’s  charter. 

I wish this recognition was a culmination of a realistic negotiations between us and the Israelis but unfortunately this wish never materialised because Israel – the most brutal, colonial occupying power – was never given a clear signal that it must abide by the laws of nations, the international law and its bolsters, the IHL and the 4th Geneva Convention.

Our story of negotiations with the Israelis is a story in which our side makes proposals and receives nothing in return; our side makes agreements that the other side breaks; and our side keeps commitments that the other side ignores. 

The question the international community needs to ask is not who wants negotiations but who wants solutions.

The answer is clear: our side wants to negotiate a permanent solution and the other side wants permanent negotiations.❞

The Palestinian Ambassador said it is time for the EU to step in to try and break the impasse.

❝It is in the interests of the EU to calm and prosper its southern and eastern shores across the Mediterranean by ending 45 years  of most brutal Israeli military occupation and salvage prospects for peace based on the two-state solution, which is the world’s endorsed option.

The EU in its relationship with a state no different from the former apartheid South Africa which is Israel, possesses the carrot as well as the stick, thus identifying trade with Israel (€20billion year) as a tool to progress peace talks. The EU can easily hold Israel accountable for its constant breaches of Article Two of the Euro Mediterranean Agreement, which states that human rights compliance by Israel is an “essential element” of the Agreement.

Political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do. You must create the change that you want to see.❞

The Palestinian Ambassador ended by thanking Sinn Féin for its "solidarity and continued support to my people locally and internationally", particularly visits to Palestine by Sinn Féin leaders such as Gerry Adams, Caitríona Ruane and Pat Sheehan MLA (pictured).

❝It boosted my people’s morale when they were seen on TV screens visiting the families of our prisoners on hunger strike and the family of the Palestinian who died in Israeli custody. There is no doubts that your successes strengthen our resolve.

All the best and good luck for the rest of your Ard Fheis.❞

• Sinn Féin MLA Caitríona Ruane at a vigil by a Gaza family who have suffered from attacks by the Israeli Army and Air Force