What do Palestine and Ireland have in common?
A little over a hundred years ago, Ireland was a British colony. Before 1948, so was Palestine. The Irish were brutally colonized for 800 years, lands taken from them, and their culture and language attacked. During the 1840's potato blight, the British government refused to send aid and continued shipping food out of Ireland causing a devastating famine which lead to 1 million deaths and a led to mass immigration out of the country.
In 1917, Arthur Balfour penned the "Balfour Declaration" which laid the groundwork for the occupation of Palestinian lands. It gave the British "permission" for establishing a Jewish state in the land of Palestine. Balfour was also a colonial governor in Ireland and was responsible for "ordering police to open fire on an 1887 land reform protest in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Resulting in three deaths, the incident earned him the sobriquet Bloody Balfour." Read more about how oppression overlaps between Ireland and Palestine.
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What's happening now?
Following the Balfour Declaration and increased settlement in Palestine from Europe, 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes, 500 villages were destroyed, 15,000 Palestinians were killed in more than 70 separate massacres. This event is known as the Nakba, or "catastrophe", or the establishment of the State of Israel. Since 1948, Israel has killed more Palestinians, destroyed more villages, committed more massacres, and established the world's largest open air prison in Gaza. Since October 7, 2023, the State of Israel has killed 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Israel was ordered to stop it's genocidal activities in the International Court of Justice months ago. The violence has not stopped.
What can I do?
Take action! Write to the United States Congress to tell them to stop arming Israel!
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Share and learn more similarities between Ireland and Palestine!