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Republicanism and the Israel-Palestine Conflict

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Civil Society, Post-Colonialism and Transnational Solidarity

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Abstract

This chapter examines the interest shown by Irish republicans in the Palestinian question which began in the 1970s, the direct connections between these republicans and Palestinian groups and the evolution of the types of actions undertaken, in particular hunger strikes and solidarity actions in detention.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Motion adopted at the 1976 Ard Fheis.

  2. 2.

    Tony Heffernan, ‘International Affairs’, official report of the Official Sinn Féin conference, 1978, p.7.

  3. 3.

    Members of Official Sinn Féin and later of Sinn Féin The Workers’ Party and The Workers’ Party.

  4. 4.

    Niall Kiely, ‘Provisional Sinn Féin offer an alternative conference’, The Irish Times, 27 July 1976.

  5. 5.

    The Irish Times, 10 July 1976, p.10.

  6. 6.

    ‘Goulding warns delegates about Provisionals’, The Irish Times, 24 July 1976.

  7. 7.

    Later on, from March 1985, a section entitled ‘World View’ was published in every issue of the republican magazine.

  8. 8.

    ‘Foreign Affairs Bureau a year old’, An Phoblacht, 2 November 1977, p.7.

  9. 9.

    UK Information Department of the Foreign Office, Irish Terrorist contacts in Europe and the Third World, Greyband Brief, May 1982.

  10. 10.

    ‘Sinn Féin and “People’s Army”’, The Irish Times, 19 February 1980.

  11. 11.

    UK Information Department of the Foreign Office (1982); ‘Sinn Féin in Trieste’, An Phoblacht, 2 August 1974, p.5; Jack Madden, ‘More interest needed in foreign affairs—Ard Fheis’84’, An Phoblacht, 8 November 1984, p.12.

  12. 12.

    An Phoblacht, 8 November 1984, p.12.

  13. 13.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 2 August 1974, p.5; 25 September 1974, p.6; 8 June 1977, p.5 and 24 August 1977, p.6.

  14. 14.

    An Phoblacht, 24 August 1977, p.6.

  15. 15.

    ETA is an organization founded in 1959 to obtain the creation of an independent and socialist Basque Country. See An Phoblacht articles: 13 August 1976, p.6; 4 January 1978, p.1; 5 May 1979, p.10; 8 April 1982, p.6; 9 May 1985, p.12; 15 August 1985, p.14; 3 July 1986, p.7; 13 August 1987, p.11; 18 August 1988, p.10; 5 October 1989, p.14; 26 January 1989, p.10; 23 November 1989, p.14. The leader of Herri Batasuna, the Basque nationalist party, was the guest of honour at the 1991 Ard Fheis.

  16. 16.

    ‘Shaping the New Europe” An Phoblacht, 6 September 1974, p.5.

  17. 17.

    ‘Towards a Republican internationalism?’, An Phoblacht, 17 May 1974, p.6.

  18. 18.

    Conway, K (2014) Southside Provisional: from Freedom Fighter to the Four Courts (Blackrock: Orpen Press), p.110.

  19. 19.

    The Palestinian armed group ‘Black September Organization’ was active between 1970 and 1973. Additionally to the Munich attack in 1972, it is also responsible for the murder of Wasfi al-Tal, the Prime Minister of Jordan, in 1971, among several other terrorist actions.

  20. 20.

    Conway, K (2014), p.110.

  21. 21.

    Frampton, M. (2004, Winter) ‘“Squaring the circle”: The Foreign Policy of Sinn Féin, 1983–1989’, Irish Political Studies, vol.19, Issue 2, 43–63.

  22. 22.

    Frampton, M. (2004), p.48.

  23. 23.

    Gerry Adams: ‘there is no Marxist influence within Sinn Féin. I know of no-one in Sinn Féin who is a Marxist or who would be influenced by Marxism’. See Hibernia, 25 October 1979 quoted in Jonathan Tonge (2006) Northern Ireland (Cambridge: Polity Press), p.106. The declaration was described as ‘flatly false’ by Kevin Kelley, who emphasized the ‘continuing lack of consistently principled stance’ of Provisional Sinn Féin, which was not a Marxist organization but which included members who were ‘strongly and deeply influenced by Marxism’, among them Gerry Adams himself. See Kelley, K. (1988 [1982]) The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA (London: Zed Books), p.304. On the question of socialism and Sinn Féin, see Maillot, A. (2005) New Sinn Féin: Irish Republicanism in the Twenty First Century (Abingdon: Routledge), p.104.

  24. 24.

    Adams , G. (1986) Politics of Irish Freedom (Dingle:Brandon Books),128–136.

  25. 25.

    Adams , G. (1986), p.135.

  26. 26.

    Denis Donaldson was in the leadership of the Foreign Affairs Bureau and was later identified as an MI5 agent informing British intelligence

  27. 27.

    O’Hearn, D. (2006) Bobby Sands , Nothing but an Unfinished Song (London, Pluto Press), 51–52.

  28. 28.

    Adams , G. (1986), 128–136.

  29. 29.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 9 November 1977, p.6; 3 March 1979, p.1; 7 September 1979, p2; 16 February 1980, p.8; 21 February 1985, p12; 4 April 1985, p.12; 2 May 1985, p.14; 14 August 1986, p.14 and 10 December 1987, p.8.

  30. 30.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 8 March 1977, p.5; 17 August 1977, p.6; 14 October 1978, p.4; 8 September 1983, p.8; 15 September 1983, p.9; 12 September 1985, p.14; 15 May 1986, p.14; 11 September 1986, p.14; 19 September 1986, p.14; 29 January 1987, p.3; 12 March 1987, p.14; 6 October 1988, p.14 and 8 September 1988, p.14.

  31. 31.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 29 June 1977, p.4; 14 September 1977, p.3; 21 September 1977, p.6; 2 November 1977, p.6; 22 February 1978, p.6; 13 May 1978, p.6; 27 May 1978, p.6; 24 June 1978, p.6; 2 September 1978, p.6; 27 January 1979, p.8; 23 November 1977, p.6; 7 July 1979, p.11; 22 March 1980, p.2; 10 May 1980, p.10; 21 June 1980, p.10; 27 September 1980, p.9; 9 September 1982, p.4; 2 December 1982, p.4; 24 February 1983, p.4; 16 June 1983, p.8; 3 November 1983, p.11; 15 March 1984, p.14; 26 July 1984, p.6; 13 August 1984, p.4; 20 September 1984, p.4; 11 October 1984, p.4; 25 October 1984, p.4; 25 October 1984, p.4; 6 November 1984, p.10; 28 March 1985, p.14; 9 May 1985, p.14; 23 May 1985, p.14; 15 August 1985, p.14; 19 September 1985, p.4; 16 October 1986, p.14; 31 October 1985, p.11; 21 November 1985, p.5; 5 December 1985, pp.8–9; 30 January 1986, p.14; 6 March 1986, p.12; 13 March 1986, p.11; 1 May 1986, p.14; 29 May 1986, p.13; 19 June 1986, p.12; 31 July 1986, p.10; 23 October 1986, p.10; 11 December 1986, p.14; 28 August 1986, p.14; 11 September 1986, p.14; 15 January 1987, p.6; 5 March 1987, p.14; 20 August 1987, p.14; 5 November 1987, p.14; 16 June 1988, p.11; 16 June 1988, p.14; 30 June 1988, p.14; 21 July 1988, p.14; 22 September 1988, p.14; 11 August 1988, p.14; 16 February 1989, p.14; 6 April 1989, p.14; 27 April 1989, p.3; 4 May 1989, p.14; 11 May 1989, p.5; 3 August 1989, p.12; 3 August 1989, p.14; 21 September 1989, p.14; 19 October 1989, p.14; 14 December 1989, p.12; 20 September 1990, p.12.

  32. 32.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 1 September 1979, p.12; 1 March 1980, p.11; 25 November 1982, p.4; 14 April 1983, p.8; 10 November 1983, p.11; 7 March 1985, p.10; 26 September 1985, p.14; 10 October 1985, p.13; 13 March 1986, p.14; 27 March 1986, p.16; 29 May 1986, p.14; 7 August 1986, p.14; 22 August 1986, p.14; 28 August 1986, p.14; 19 September 1986, p.14; 6 November 1986, p.14; 5 February 1987, p.14; 26 March 1987, p.14; 7 May 1987, p.12; 4 June 1987, p.14; 23 July 1987, p.14; 15 September 1988, p.11; 27 April 1989, p.11; 18 May 1989, p.7 and 27 July 1989, p.14.

  33. 33.

    An Phoblacht articles: 19 October 1973, p.14; 12 July 1974, p.14.

  34. 34.

    An Phoblacht articles: 19 July 1974, p.14; 26 July 1974, p.11; 10 January 1979, p.8; 13 September 1980, p.10.

  35. 35.

    Voice of the Arab Homeland Radio, Tripoli, 22 December 1976; Ed Carty, ‘Gaddafi urged UN chief to halt hunger strike’, The Irish Examiner, 30 December 2011.

  36. 36.

    An Phoblacht articles: 4 May 1973, p.14; 20 February 1976, p.3; 19 October 1973, p.14; 30 January 1986, p.14; 27 March 1986, p.16; 17 April 1986, p.8; 24 April 1986, p.14; 3 July 1986, p.7; 4 November 1987; 11 May 1992, p.12.

  37. 37.

    On the question of the connections betwen the IRA and Libya, see: Blundy, D. and Lycett, A. (1988) Qaddafi and the Libyan revolution (London, Corgi books), p.96; O’Brien, B. (1999 [1993]) The Long War: The IRA & Sinn Féin (Dublin: The O’Brien Press), 133–153; Moloney, E. (2002) A Secret History of the IRA (London: Penguin Books), p.10; English, R. (2003) Armed Struggle, a History of the IRA (London, Macmillan), p.249; British Foreign Office memo, Qadhafi and Irish terrorism, April 1986, in Senator H. John Heinz’s documents, Legislative Assistants’ Files—1970–1991 [1977–1991]; House of Commons Debates, vol.883, col.1554–6, 18 December 1974; Dáil Éireann Debates, vol.117, col. 16, 25 November 1987.

  38. 38.

    Sterling, C. (1981) The Terror Network, the Secret War of International Terrorism (New York: Henry Holt & Co), p.259; Wright, J. (1982) Libya: A Modern History (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press), p.172; Ronen, Y. (2004, January) ‘Libya’s Qadhafi and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 1969–2002’, Middle Eastern Studies, vol.40, Issue 1, 85–98.

  39. 39.

    ‘Hands off Lybia’, An Phoblacht, 30 January 1986, p.14.

  40. 40.

    An Phoblacht articles: 10 June 1982, p.10; 7 March 1985, p.10; 28 March 1985, p.14; 1 October 1987, p.14; 29 September 1988, p.14; 7 January 1988, p.4.

  41. 41.

    ‘Foreign Affairs’, official report of the Provisional Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, 1983, p.6.

  42. 42.

    Amal was an Islamic Lebanese militia founded in 1975 by Moussa Sader.

  43. 43.

    The Hezbollah is a Shia political party founded in Lebanon in 1982, during the war with Israel. It is considered a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom and the United States because of its armed branch and its radical ideology.

  44. 44.

    An Phoblacht, 7 January 1988, p.4.

  45. 45.

    Brian Keenan (1992) An Evil Cradling (London: Hutchinson).

  46. 46.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 5 August 1982, p.5; 22 April 1982, p.10; 8 July 1982, p.3; 12 August 1982, p.8; 23 September 1982, p.3; 17 February 1983, p.2; 26 January 1984, p.12.

  47. 47.

    As early as 1949, one year after the declaration of the Israeli state, 100 000 Palestinian refugees were displaced to camps in Lebanon. See , First Interim Report of UN Survey Mission for Middle East, UN, document A/1106, 17 November 1949, quoted in Al-Husseini, J. (2012) ‘Le Statut des réfugiés palestiniens au Proche-Orient: Facteur de maintien ou de dissolution de l’identité nationale palestinienne’, in Al-Husseini, J. and Signoles, A. (eds.) (2012) Les Palestiniens entre Etat et Diaspora—Le Temps des incertitudes (Paris: Karthala), 37–65. In 1972, 650 000 Palestinians lived in camps in Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon . In 1982, they were 2 million. See Pappe, I. (2006 [2004]), A History of Modern Palestine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 186–187.

  48. 48.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 26 April 1980, p.4; 27 October 1983, p.7; 23 February 1984, p.10; 18 January 1978, p.6.

  49. 49.

    ‘From victims to oppressors, the cause of Jewish Ulster’, An Phoblacht, 21 April 1979, p.11.

  50. 50.

    Sean Halfpenny, ‘Condemnations useless, Lebanon’, An Phoblacht, 1 July 1982, p.4.

  51. 51.

    Sean Halfpenny, ‘Battle for the Lebanon—Israel’s real intentions emerge’, An Phoblacht, 17 June 1982, p.4.

  52. 52.

    He thus designated Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948. See ‘Solidarity with Palestinians’, An Phoblacht, 31 January 1985, p.11.

  53. 53.

    ‘From Victims to Oppressors, the cause of Jewish Ulster’, An Phoblacht, 21 April 1979, p.11.

  54. 54.

    ‘Palestine/Ireland-the parallels’, An Phoblacht, 22 July 1982, p.12.

  55. 55.

    ‘Lebanon and Ireland’, An Phoblacht, 1 July 1982, p.8

  56. 56.

    The SDLP has also supported the Palestinian cause since 1983, after the 1982 Israeli invasion and mass bombardment of Lebanon. Motions were passed in that regard at annual conferences in 1983, 1984, 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2002. See Official reports of the SDLP annual conference: 1983, p.6/1984, p.33/1993, p.11/1997, p.15/2001 p.25/2002, p.28.

  57. 57.

    An Phoblacht, 1 July 1982, p.8.

  58. 58.

    ‘Palestine Day was a triumph’, An Phoblacht, 16 December 1978, p.6. See also O’Brien, B. (1999 [1993]) The Long War: The IRA & Sinn Féin (Dublin: The O’Brien Press), p.27 and p.226.

  59. 59.

    ‘PLO’, An Phoblacht, 28 August 1986, p.14.

  60. 60.

    ‘International Solidarity’, An Phoblacht, 5 September 1981, p.18. The PFLP collaborated with both Official Sinn Féin and Provisional Sinn Féin.

  61. 61.

    John Spencer, ‘PLO will represent Palestine in Geneva’, An Phoblacht, 19 October 1977, p.6.

  62. 62.

    An Phoblacht, 30 September 1978, p.5.

  63. 63.

    McKinley, M (1991) ‘Of “Alien Influences”: Accounting and Discounting for the International Contacts of the Provisional Irish Republican Army’, Journal of Conflict Studies, vol.11, Issue 3, 7-35, p.7.

  64. 64.

    Bowyer Bell, J. (1983) The Secret Army; the IRA 1916–1979 (Dublin: Mid Press), p.437; Ed Blanche, ‘Arms shipment to IRA reported seized’, St. Petersburg Times, 6 January 1978.

  65. 65.

    ‘Leftover Lebanese arms grabbed on way to IRA’, The Montreal Gazette, 6 January 1978.

  66. 66.

    Blundy, D. and Lycett, A. (1988), p.97.

  67. 67.

    Lord Mountbatten (1900–1979), previously Governor and Viceroy of India, was a British national hero of WW2 and a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II; Knatchbull, T. (2009) From a Clear Blue Sky: Surviving the Mountbatten Bomb (London: Arrow).

  68. 68.

    ‘1 convicted, 1 acquitted in Mountbatten’s murder’, Sarrasota Herald Tribune, 23 November 1979; ‘One man gets life in Mountbatten’s death’, The Ledger, 24 November 1979. The controversy was reborn in 2009 with the project of raising a monument in the honour of Lord Mountbatten in Donegal. The local Sinn Féin Councillor Pádraig MacLochlainn, who was elected TD in 2011, opposed the initiative. See ‘Memorial held for attack victims’, BBC News, 27 August 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/mobile/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8224607.stm

  69. 69.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 6 August 1982, p.4; 3 October 1985, p.14.

  70. 70.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 19 September 1986, p.14, 13 November 1986, p.14.

  71. 71.

    ‘Mossad can’t kill uprising’, An Phoblacht, 21 April 1988, p.14.

  72. 72.

    An Phoblacht, 21 April 1988.

  73. 73.

    The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was a Marxist-Leninist organization set up in 1969. It had both a political and a military branch.

  74. 74.

    The Palestinian National Council is the legislative branch of the PLO. It met for the first time in 1964 in Jerusalem and published a 33-point charter asserting Palestinian rights.

  75. 75.

    The agreements, signed in Amman by King Hussein and Yasser Arafat , planned the participation of Jordan in the resolution of the Middle East conflict and the creation of a confederation made up of the future Palestinian state and Jordan.

  76. 76.

    ‘PLO’, An Phoblacht, 30 April 1987, p.14.

  77. 77.

    Salmon, J. (1988) ‘La Proclamation de l’Etat palestinien’, Annuaire Français de Droit International, vol.34, Issue 34, 37–62.

  78. 78.

    ‘Palestinian State Declared’, An Phoblacht, 17 November 1988, p.14.

  79. 79.

    ‘UN votes to hear Arafat ’, An Phoblacht, 1 December 1988, p.14.

  80. 80.

    ‘There must be no preconditions’, An Phoblacht, 11 November 1993, p.7.

  81. 81.

    ‘Palestine. The fight goes on’, An Phoblacht, 9 December 1978, p.6.

  82. 82.

    ‘Little Palestinian Boy’, An Phoblacht, 25 February 1988, p.11.

  83. 83.

    An Phoblacht, 25 February 1988.

  84. 84.

    Eyerman, R. (2005) ‘How Social Movements Move: Emotions and Social Movement’, in Flam, H and King, D. (2005) (eds.), Emotions and Social Movements (Abingdon: Routledge), 41–56.

  85. 85.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 8 February 1977, p.3; 8 June 1977, p.5.

  86. 86.

    See the International Solidarity Movement’s website , Reham Alhelsi, ‘Les prisonniers palestiniens en grève de la faim : mettre l’oppression en échec, libérer la Palestine’, 12 February 2012, http://www.ism-france.org/analyses/Les-prisonniers-palestiniens-en-greve-de-la-faim-mettre-l-oppression-en-echec-liberer-la-Palestine-article-16620 (consulted September 2015).

  87. 87.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 1 November 1980, p.7; 8 November 1980, p.8.

  88. 88.

    ‘International Solidarity’, An Phoblacht, 30 May 1981, p.40-41.

  89. 89.

    Tim Pat Coogan is an Irish journalist and was editor of The Irish Press for almost 20 years. See Coogan, T. P. (2010) A Memoir (London: Orion Publishing), p.241.

  90. 90.

    ‘Jail resistance-the Palestinians’, An Phoblacht, 22 July 1982, p.12.

  91. 91.

    Desert Peace’s website, ‘Exclusive interview with Sinn Féin Council member Gerry MacLochlainn’, 21 June 2011, http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/exclusive-interview-with-sinn-fein-council-member-gerry-maclochlainn (consulted September 2015).

  92. 92.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 1 July 1982, p.9; 18 February 1988, p.14.

  93. 93.

    ‘Protest march over visit’, The Irish Times, 20 June 1985.

  94. 94.

    ‘Palestinian tributes’, An Phoblacht, 30 September 1982, p.11.

  95. 95.

    See An Phoblacht articles: 19 March 1987, p.14; 26 March 1987, p.14.

  96. 96.

    Sinn Féin’s website: ‘Thirty-five Oireachtas members sign petition on mass Palestinian prison hunger strike’, 9 May 2012, http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/23155.

  97. 97.

    Khader Adnan is suspected of being a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. He resumed his hunger strike for the fourth time after his tenth arrest in 2015.

  98. 98.

    Pat Sheehan, ‘Action needed now to save Palestinian hungerstriker’, press release, 13 February 2012.

  99. 99.

    Ali Abunimah, ‘Video: Former Irish hunger striker’s message for Khader Adnan , a Palestinian prisoner 55 days on hunger strike’, The Electronic Intifada, 9 February 2012, http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-former-irish-hunger-strikers-message-khader-adnan-palestinian-prisoner-55 (consulted September 2015).

  100. 100.

    ‘Khader Adnan receives message of support from former Hunger Striker Tommy McKearney’, video published on You Tube, 8 February 2012, posted by Gaza TV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1iwWZJPl_k (consulted September 2015).

  101. 101.

    Electronic Intifada, ‘Video: Raymond McCartney, former Irish hunger striker in message of support to Khader Adnan ’, 17 February 2012, http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/linah-alsaafin/video-raymond-mccartney-former-irish-hunger-striker-message-support-khader (consulted September 2015).

  102. 102.

    Electronic Intifada, ‘Video: Solidarity with Khader Adnan from family of late Irish hunger striker Francis Hughes’, 15 February 2012, http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-solidarity-khader-adnan-family-late-irish-hunger-striker-francis-hughes (consulted September 2015).

  103. 103.

    ‘Khader Adnan Thanks the Families of Irish hunger strikers’, video published by ‘Ahmad’ on You Tube, 3 June 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loUAwRNbLO8 (consulted September 2015).

  104. 104.

    The West Belfast Festival has organized a ‘Palestine Day’ every year since Operation Cast Lead (2009) with conferences, book sales, exhibitions and film screenings. See the programmes of the West Belfast Festival (2009–2015).

  105. 105.

    Adams , G. (1986), p.131.

  106. 106.

    Rolston, B. (1991) Politics and Painting: Murals and Conflict in Northern Ireland (London: Associated University Presses), p.124.

  107. 107.

    Lisle, D. (2006, January/March) ‘Local Symbols, Global Networks: Rereading the Murals of Belfast’, Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, vol.31, Issue 1, 27–52.

  108. 108.

    Jarman, N. (1998) ‘Painting Landscapes: the place of murals in the symbolic construction of urban space’, in Anthony Buckley (ed.) (1998), Symbols in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies Queen’s University) 81–98.

  109. 109.

    Collins, J. and Kerr, A. (2009) Free Derry Wall (Derry: Guildhall Press), p.46.

  110. 110.

    Collins, J. and Kerr, A. (2009), p.45.

  111. 111.

    Rolston, B. (1991), p.101; Hill, A. and White, A. (2008) ‘The Flying of Israeli Flags in Northern Ireland’, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, vol.15, Issue 1, 31–50.

  112. 112.

    See annexes.

  113. 113.

    Rolston, B. (1991), p.49.

  114. 114.

    Flannery, E. (2009) Ireland in Focus, Film, Photography, and Popular Culture (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press), p.139.

  115. 115.

    See also; Parry, W. (2010) Against the wall, the art of resistance in Palestine (London: Pluto Press), p.140; Jarman, N. (1998), p.91.

  116. 116.

    Bourdieu, P. (2000) Propos sur le champ politique (Lyon : Presses Universitaires de Lyon), p.64 and p.85.

  117. 117.

    Keck, M. and Sikkink, K. (1998) Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), p.16.

  118. 118.

    Browne, K. and Mac Ginty, R. (2003) ‘Public attitudes toward partisan and neutral symbols in post-agreement Northern Ireland’, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, vol.10, Issue 1, 83–108.

  119. 119.

    ‘Palestinian flags on march’, Derry Journal, 2 February 2009.

  120. 120.

    Gerry Adams (2009) Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank April 2009—A Report (Dublin: Sinn Féin), p.11. The PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist in peace in 1993.

  121. 121.

    Mark Weiss, ‘Israel vows to block Gaza-bound ship’, The Irish Times, 4 October 2012; IPSC’s website, ‘unprecedented cross-party call from Irish politicians for an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza’, http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/unprecedented-cross-party-call-by-irish-politicians-for-an-end-to-the-israelisiege-of-gaza (consulted September 2015).

  122. 122.

    Adams, G. (2007) An Irish Eye (Dingle: Brandon Books), p.214.

  123. 123.

    Steve Weizman, ‘Israelis to shun Sinn Féin leader Adams ’, USA Today, 9 May 2006; Avi Issacharoff, ‘Sinn Fein’s Adams meets Hamas lawmaker in Ramallah, prompting Israeli boycott’, Haaretz, 7 September 2006.

  124. 124.

    Adams, G. (2009) Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank April 2009—A Report (Dublin: Sinn Féin).

  125. 125.

    Adams, G. (2007), p.226–228; Adams, G. (2009), p.5.

  126. 126.

    Gerry Adams (2009), p.7.

  127. 127.

    Herb Keinon, ‘Blair intervenes to get Adams into Gaza ’, The Jerusalem Post, 25 April 2013.

  128. 128.

    Motion 106, official report of the Ard Fhéis of Sinn Féin, 2013. Caterpillar is mentioned because of a controversy involving Sinn Féin MLA Paul Maskey who had welcomed the creation of 200 jobs in Caterpillar’s West Belfast plant in February 2013, despite the call for a boycott of the company by pro-Palestinian associations. Indeed, Caterpillar sells equipment to the Israeli state and the topic is particularly sensitive because the American activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar armoured bulldozer belonging to the IDF in Rafah in 2006.

  129. 129.

    ‘Israel’s massacre in Lebanon and Palestine are the actions of a rogue state’, An Phoblacht, 5 August 2006; ‘Ógra Shinn Féin call on public to boycott Israeli goods Friday’, Indymedia Ireland, 16 January 2009, http://www.indymedia.ie/article/90670 (consulted September 2015).

  130. 130.

    ‘Irish call for justice for Palestine’, The Irish Times, 31 January 2009.

  131. 131.

    Eamonn Costello, ‘Dunnes shoppers demand Israeli boycott’, Politico.ie http://politico.ie/world-politics/6739-dunnes-shoppers-demand-israeli-boycott.html, 30 July 2010, http://politico.ie/component/content/article/6739.html (consulted September 2015).

  132. 132.

    See Sinn Féin’s press releases: ‘Ó Snodaigh confronts Israeli Ambassador at Oireachtas Committee meeting’, 13 January 2009; ‘Taoiseach should push for trade boycott of Israel at EU level’, 1 June 2010; ‘MEP calls for halt of EU funding to Israeli research companies’, 21 September 2012.

  133. 133.

    A minimum of 30 MLAs have to ask for an emergency session for it to be held.

  134. 134.

    John O’Dowd, Sinn Féin MLA, Northern Ireland Assembly debates, 4 June 2010, http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/record/reports2009/100604.htm (consulted September 2015).

  135. 135.

    Gerry McHugh, Sinn Féin MLA, Northern Ireland Assembly debates, 4 June 2010, http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/record/reports2009/100604.htm (consulted September 2015).

  136. 136.

    Sinn Féin was active in the Republic of Ireland as well. Councillor Críona Ní Dhálaigh submitted a motion adopted unanimously by Dublin city council to condemn the Israeli assault on the flotilla and encourage the sending of a second Freedom Flotilla, with the participation of the Irish association Irish Ship to Gaza. See ‘International Sinn Féin motion wins action on Palestine’, An Phoblacht, October 2010.

  137. 137.

    The Widgery inquiry was ordered by the UK government after the death of 26 unarmed demonstrators on 30 January 1972, but was considered to be unreasonably sympathetic to the British army. In 1998 the families of victims obtained a new investigation in the form of the Saville inquiry, whose report in 2010 published conclusions much less favourable to the army.

  138. 138.

    Friends of Israel Initiative is an Israel support group founded in 2010 by José Maria Aznar and 12 international diplomats.

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    ‘Making inquiries in Derry and Gaza ’, An Phoblacht, 2 July 2010.

  140. 140.

    Report of the Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May 2010 (Turkel enquiry), January 2011.

  141. 141.

    ‘Derry Friends of Palestine’, set up in 2008–2009 during Operation Cast Lead, became ‘Irish Friends of Palestine’ in 2013.

  142. 142.

    ‘City Council backs Israeli goods boycott’, Derry Journal, 24 April 2013.

  143. 143.

    Derry Friends of Palestine’s website , ‘We stood up for Derry, let’s stand up for Palestine’, http://www.derryfriendsofpalestine.org/2010/03 (consulted September 2015).

  144. 144.

    Derry Friends of Palestine, ‘Gaza Sends Message on Bloody Sunday March’, video published on You Tube, 30 January 2011 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW3NkV2l5jg (consulted September 2015).

  145. 145.

    Desert Peace’s website, ‘Exclusive interview with Sinn Féin Council member Gerry MacLochlainn’, 21 June 2011, http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/exclusive-interview-with-sinn-fein-council-member-gerry-maclochlainn (consulted September 2015).

  146. 146.

    Derry Friends of Palestine’s website , ‘Irish ship to Gaza Northern launch’, http://www.derryfriendsofpalestine.org/tag/friends-of-palestine-belfast (consulted September 2015).

  147. 147.

    Dáil Éireann Debates, vol.737, Issue 1, 29 June 2011.

  148. 148.

    ‘Waterford fishermen’s lifeline to Gaza ’, An Phoblacht, April 2012. The article did not mention the main Irish organizer of the flotilla initiative, the association Irish Ship to Gaza.

  149. 149.

    Morgan Llywelyn, A Pocket History of Irish Rebels (Dublin: The O’Brien Press, 2000).

  150. 150.

    See Derry Friends of Palestine’s website , ‘To the Israelis. I say—You will not stop the Irish! We will break your siege!’, 2 November 2011, http://www.derryfriendsofpalestine.org/2011/11/maclochlainn-sends-message-to-comrade-on-mv-saoirse (consulted September 2015).

  151. 151.

    See Irish Friends of Palestine’s website , ‘Report Fishing in Gaza/Life and Death’, http://www.irishfriendsofpalestine.org/2013/01/19/603 (consulted September 2015).

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    Herb Keinon, ‘Activists last week tried to physically bar ambassador’s entry into town hall of Carrickmacross’, The Jerusalem Post, 2 May 2010.

  153. 153.

    Republican Sinn Féin’s website, ‘Éire Nua: a plan for permanent peace in New Ireland’, 2001, http://rsf.ie/eirenua.htm (consulted September 2015).

  154. 154.

    See Saoirse Irish Freedom articles: December 1987, p.9; January 1988, p.5; September 1989, p.7; April 1992, p.8; May 1992, p.9.

  155. 155.

    See Ruairí Ó Brádaigh ’s speeches at the Republican Sinn Féin Ard Fheis: 1997, 2000, 2001.

  156. 156.

    See Des Dalton’s speech at the Republican Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, 2011.

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    Republican Sinn Féin ‘Ard Fheis underlines international perspective of Sinn Féin’, press release, 7 December 2010.

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    ‘Manorhamilton Hosts Major Event’, Indymedia Ireland, 19 October 2008,

    http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89528?author_name=Ma&comment_order=desc&condense_comments=true&userlanguage=ga&save_prefs=true (consulted September 2015).

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    ‘Reports: MV Rachel Corrie waiting in Mediterranean’, Ma’an News Agency, 3 June 2010.

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    Abnaa el Balad is a secular Palestinian association founded at the start of the 1970s. It is mostly made up of Arab citizens of Israel and advocates the creation of a single secular state in Palestine.

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    See Republican Sinn Féin’s website, Fergal Moore, ‘Greetings to 2nd Haifa Conference “For the return of Palestinian refugees”’, 27 May 2010,

    http://www.irish-solidarity.net/db1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=269:greetings-to-2nd-haifa-conference-for-the-return-of-palestinian-refugees&catid=63:international-relations-bureau&Itemid=80 (consulted September 2015).

  162. 162.

    International Relations Bureau of Republican Sinn Féin, ‘The Republican Sinn Féin International Relations Bureau sends greetings to all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli Zionist jails on the annual Day in support of Palestinian Prisoners’, press release by Dieter Blumenfeld, 17 April 2010.

  163. 163.

    Israeli Committee against House Demolition is a civil association, founded in 1997 to protest against the occupation of the West Bank and the destruction of Palestinian houses using direct peaceful actions.

  164. 164.

    ‘RSF Palestinian visit’, Saoirse Irish Freedom, August/September 2008; Cumann Na Saoirse Náısıúnta, ‘RSF solidarity with Palestinians’, press release, 7 August 2008.

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    Cumann Seán Costello/Martin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Hurson#_blank%23Martin%20Hurson, ‘1. Palestine/Ireland: resistance is a right’, press release, 21 November 2012.

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    Marie-Violaine Louvet

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Louvet, MV. (2016). Republicanism and the Israel-Palestine Conflict. In: Civil Society, Post-Colonialism and Transnational Solidarity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55109-2_7

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