Sir, – Nine members of Gaza Action Ireland returned home this week after a visit to the Gaza Strip. Coincidentally, while we were in Gaza, Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore issued an extraordinarily misleading Dáil statement about the situation there. He said: “The ceasefire established on 21 November has so far held very well, despite some incidents”.
Mr Gilmore also cited favourably Israel’s announced doubling of the three-mile fishing limit to six miles, and “reduction in the width of the buffer zone [near the border with Israel] from 500 metres to 100 metres”. He added, “These relaxations are being largely followed through in practice.”
In Gaza we saw some of what is really happening “in practice”. On January 11th, five days before Mr Gilmore’s statement, 19-year-old Anwar Mamlouk was shot dead by Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip. On January 14th, two days before the statement, farmer Mustafa Jarad was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while working his land, with initial reports indicating that he was close to 1km from the border.
In addition, we spoke with fishermen who continue to be harassed well within the allegedly expanded new fishing limits, and whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by lawless Israeli actions.
Such factual information can be accessed without a trip to Gaza. It is documented on, for example, the website of the respected and award-winning NGO, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, with which Mr Gilmore has previously had discussions. His complacent answer to a Dáil question indicates this Government’s unwillingness to fully appreciate and condemn the daily harassment and frequent killing of Palestinians by Israel’s occupying forces. – Yours, etc,