Vigil In Bray To Mark International Day of Solidarity for Palestine

Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady invited members of the public to attend a vigil at Bray Town Hall, this coming Wednesday 29th November at 6pm, to mark the International Day of Solidarity for Palestine.

In a statement Brady said:

“This week more than ever before it is vital that the people of Wicklow join with the millions of others around the globe in offering solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October, almost 15,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of whom were women and children, by Israeli forces as part of their revenge mission against the people of Gaza.

Hospitals, schools, all forms of civilian infrastructure have been targeted in a brutal bombardment intent on reducing Gaza to rubble.

Indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by illegal Israeli settlers have also increased.

The Israeli authorities are continuing with their apartheid policies, designed to reduce Palestinian Territory to a series of scattered enclaves surrounded by security cordons.

A policy that continues to erode the fabric of Palestinian civic authority and Socio-economic and cultural life. The apartheid policies of Israeli are intent on making Palestinian Territory so fragmented that is ungovernable.  

The Irish people have always found a kindred spirit in the Palestinian people.

Our shared history of colonisation and subjugation by a colonial oppressor lends Irish people a particular understanding and sympathy for the suffering of Palestinians.

It is no coincidence that after the IRA chased the Black and Tans out of Ireland in 1921, 650 Tans resurfaced in Palestine in 1922, which was then under British rule as part of the British Palestine Gendarmie. 

Where they continued on in the same brutal manner against Palestinians as they did against the Irish beforehand.

Brady continued:

“I want to invite as many members of the public as possible, representatives of civic society, and NGOs, to join with us on this Wednesday 29th, at 6pm, outside Bray Town Hall, to send out a powerful message of support for the Palestinian people.

The only way to achieve peace is through a groundswell of public opinion, which will put pressure on the international community to finally act to hold Israel to account for its war crimes and continual breaches of international law.

It is only by holding Israel to account will be possible to end its persecution and violence against Palestinians.”