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Paul Murphy has been detained in Egypt since sending this piece – you can follow developments here. Â
I TRAVELLED TO Cairo yesterday to join the Global March to Gaza.
Tomorrow, together with thousands of others from around the world, we will set out to march through the Sinai desert to the Rafah crossing as part of the Global March to Gaza.
Rafah is the place where starvation is being inflicted on Palestinian people. Aid of all sorts – food, water and medical supplies – has been totally blocked since March.
Instead of being a humanitarian measure to keep children from starving, aid is now being used as a weapon of war by Israel.
Israel has refused to allow any aid in, other than a tiny trickle controlled by the Orwellian titled ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’ (GHF).
The GHF, essentially an arm of the Israeli state, has used the promise of aid to pursue the goal of ethnic cleansing of large parts of the Gaza strip.
The Israeli army has since targeted those gathering to seek aid. Over 2,000 people have been killed or injured in the last two weeks while queueing for aid.
The anger of ordinary people across the planet is rising as Israel’s genocide grinds on, and Western governments continue to arm, finance and support Israel’s barbarous campaign.
In a just world, Israel would have been disarmed and its apartheid state dismantled long ago. But not in the world we live in.
On the contrary, the US, Germany, UK, Italy and others enable, fund and arm Israel.
Other governments, including the Irish government, engage in hand-wringing for the cameras but take little meaningful action.
The Irish government refuses to sanction Israel – it wouldn’t even expel the Israeli Ambassador.
The Irish Central Bank facilitates the sale of Israel’s war bonds and the government has now twice voted against ending this.
The government does nothing to stop flights through Irish airspace with munitions bound for Israel, even when handed the evidence of the munitions carried on each flight.
It has delayed the Occupied Territories Bill for over six years and now is attempting to water it down, by excluding the majority of trade with the occupied territories. This is complicity.
Ordinary people are taking action because their governments have failed to act.
The global Palestine solidarity movement has mobilised for 20 months, and is gaining in strength driven by moral outrage at the barbarism and complicity we are witnessing.
The failures of governments to act to save the people of Gaza means that increasingly ordinary people are taking matters into their own hands.
We watched the Madleen with Greta Thunberg and other activists on board as it attempted to break the Israeli siege of Gaza to deliver aid.
In 2011, when I participated with other activists in the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, we received similar treatment from the Israeli state. Our vessel, the MV Saoirse, was seized by the Israeli military in international water.
We were then kidnapped and jailed for seven days.
In Ireland, people have taken action recently to protest against the Irish government’s complicity.
Tens of thousands have mobilised on the streets on a regular basis.
Workers participated in lunchtime walkouts last week supported by the trade unions.
Activists breached fences at Shannon airport to protest against the US military’s presence there. They should be applauded instead of charged, for taking action to disrupt the US military, the main arms supplier for Israel’s genocide.
We all have a responsibility to take whatever steps we can to prevent genocide.
The Global March to Gaza is part of this growing response by ordinary people who are appalled at what Israel is doing and at governments, including the Irish government, that are complicit in Israel’s genocide.
People are taking actions that governments around the world should have taken long ago to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The march is a peaceful, civilian attempt to open a humanitarian corridor to get aid, that is currently blocked at Rafah, past the Israeli blockade and to the people of Gaza. An estimated 3,000 people will be on the march from 57 countries, including a delegation of about 50 from Ireland.
I am proud to be part of the Irish delegation.
We are traveling to Al Arish in Egypt today, and from there we will walk 48 kilometres, through a section of the Sinai desert, to arrive at Rafah by Sunday.
At Rafah, we will demand the opening of the Rafah terminal to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and relieve the suffering inflicted by Israel on the people of Gaza.
We will demand that Israel stop using starvation as a weapon of war and for their blockade of Gaza to be lifted and the genocide halted.
We won’t accept anything less.
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