Derry's Mayor and MP pledge opposition to Israeli Apartheid
'Every gesture of solidarity is valuable and a morale booster for the Palestinian people' - Mayor Logue
The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Patricia Logue (Sinn Féin) and Foyle MP, Colum Eastwood have pledged opposition to Israeli apartheid.
The Pledge is an initiative actioned by Derry's Bloody Sunday Trust.
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood signing the Pledge against Israeli Apartheid.
"It may be argued that there is very little Derry can do about Israeli colonialism and occupation but every gesture of solidarity is valuable and a morale booster for the Palestinian people just as every failure to speak out against injustice comforts Israel.
"The ending of apartheid in South Africa is the most obvious example of how civic society action combined with international political and economic pressure can bring about change.
I am, therefore, encouraging organisations and individuals across all sectors to join me in signing this Pledge to make the Derry and Strabane District Council area an apartheid free zone”.
In May 2023, the Trust, together with Derry City and Strabane District Council marked the 75th anniversary of the events which Palestinians refer to as the Nakba (the Catastrophe) during which some 530 Palestinian towns and villages were ethnically cleansed leading to the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland.
The Bloody Sunday Trust is a member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Campaign for Palestine, a coalition of Irish civil society organisations, trade unions and academic experts committed to working collaboratively to end Israeli apartheid against Palestinians.
In this capacity, it is now following up the formal marking of Nakba Day by asking civic leaders, policy makers, opinion formers and politicians to sign the Pledge to end Israeli Apartheid which has been drafted by the Irish Anti Apartheid Campaign for Palestine (IAACP)
A spokesperson for the Bloody Sunday Trust said: "United Nations special rapporteurs and human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem and Jewish Voice for Peace all recognise that the systematic discrimination suffered by the Palestinian people constitutes the crime of apartheid under international law.
"The EU has repeatedly acknowledged that the Palestinian lands occupied by Israel since 1967 constitute “occupied territories” for the purposes of international law.
"Palestinians are today faced with an extreme right- wing Israeli government containing self- proclaimed racists and fascists. Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich describes himself as a “fascist homophobe” while national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has a conviction for incitement to racism.
"The Nakba is indisputably an ongoing reality for Palestinians for whom every day brings more killings, detentions, home demolitions, racial discrimination, ethnic cleansing, humiliation and segregation."
Speaking about the Pledge, Tony Doherty, Chair of The Bloody Sunday Trust added: “ For the Palestinian people the Nakba is not simply an historical moment of collective national trauma but an ongoing process of colonisation, dispossession, and occupation.
"Since the 1948 Nakba, Israel has killed over 100,000 Palestinians and destroyed at least 130,000 homes and other structures.
"Following the occupation of the rest of historic Palestine in 1967, Israel has imprisoned more than a million Palestinians and continues to prevent Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes and villages.
"The international community must therefore as a matter of urgency face up to the reality of Israel’s apartheid, and pursue every avenue to justice for Palestine. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “All of us need to do more in supporting the struggle of the people of Palestine for self-determination.” This Pledge is an effective platform that we can use to build that increased support”.
Further information on the Pledge to end Israeli Apartheid is available from: [email protected].
The Bloody Sunday Anti Apartheid Pledge can be signed online at: Sign the Pledge: https://www.amnesty.ie/end-israeli-apartheid-pledge/.