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Sat, 17 Feb, 2024 - 01:01

Paul Hosford, Political Correspondent

Palestine owes Ireland a debt of gratitude for its support of both the Palestinian people and UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the country’s ambassador to Ireland has said.

At the Social Democrats conference in Dublin, Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid said she was thankful to “the Irish people for their constant and strong step toward justice and human rights and to the just cause of the Palestinian people and constant support of UNWRA”.

Ireland announced an extra €20m in funding for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency last Thursday as a number of other countries continue to pause financial support.

Over a dozen counties have paused funding after Israel claimed that a number of UNRWA staff had been involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks, claims which are still being investigated.

In her speech, Ms Abdalmajid said that Ireland was one of the countries which “still believe in the vital work of UNWRA”.

Palestine's ambassador to Ireland, Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, fourth from left, with Social Democrats TDs Gary Gannon, Catherine Murphy, Holly Cairns, Róisín Shortall, and Cian O'Callaghan, at the party's national conference. Picture: Social Democrats

She said that Palestine, since the bombardment by Israeli forces, was facing persecution, displacement, and injustice.

“Palestine and the Palestinians are facing another tragedy,” she said. “Another ethnic cleansing, another another forced displacement. Palestinians are facing systematic genocide.”

Ms Abdalmajid said the October 7 attack by Hamas which sparked the latest round of conflict “did not come out of thin air”.

“The land of Palestine is not disputed,” she said. “It is colonised. It’s due to the continued Israeli occupation of Palestine and the continuation of their policies of persecution, and daily repression is the blockage of a serious political horizon.

“Colonial settler violence in the occupied West Bank has doubled since October 7.

"The US, UK, and France have announced sanctions on four Israeli settlers accused of committing human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank. This is not enough, but maybe we can consider it as a beginning, a good start.

"We the Palestinians reject the killing or taking hostages of innocent civilians. However, what has unfolded since October 7, supposedly in response to the attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, has gone far beyond what the prime minister of Israel and government has described as self-defence. It has gone beyond rage and revenge.”

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said that the Israeli ambassador Dana Erlich had not been invited. Much had been made about Ms Erlich’s attendance at the Fianna Fáil ard fheis in November.

“Our focus really in this moment was to invite the Palestinian ambassador here,” said Ms Cairns.

"The Irish people sent a clear message that they want Ireland to be strong on this issue," she said.

"And that’s why we’ve prioritised the attendance of the Palestinian ambassador at this particular conference."

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