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Two local SDLP members who travelled to the West Bank on a humanitarian mission last year have released a statement condemning the dehumanisation of Palestinians in the media, calling for a humanitarian aid corridor, a cessation of the ongoing war in Gaza and the beginning of dialogue to establish a just and lasting peace.
Slieve Gullion Councillor Pete Byrne made his first visit to Palestine in July 2022 while Killian Feehan, the Constituency Chair of Newry & Armagh SDLP has been engaged in on-the-ground volunteering with Palestinian voluntary organisations on the West Bank since 2011.
In July 2022, Pete and Killian led a group of eight local volunteers to Palestine on a humanitarian mission focussed on supporting the educational development of young Palestinians. In addition to providing teaching support and mentoring opportunities for young people, Pete and Killian secured funding through the local community in Newry and South Armagh to provide university scholarships to 15 students in financial distress.
In their statement they quote civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jnr "Violence begets violence; hate begets hate; and toughness begets a greater toughness. It is all a descending spiral, and the end is destruction — for everybody. Along the way of life, someone must have enough sense and morality to cut off the chain of hate."
Statement from Cllr Pete Byrne and Killian Feehan
All of us are watching our screens in horror at the scenes of chaos and destruction engulfing Gaza. Inhumanity is not a phenomenon that exists only in Israel and Palestine – it exists the world over, but what differentiates the Palestinian conflict is the sharp divergence in the application of moral outrage.
For close to a month now, the Gaza strip has been mercilessly and relentlessly bombarded from the air, and by all accounts, Israel is preparing to launch an invasion by ground. More than 9,000 Palestinians have already been slaughtered, including 5,500 women and children. Schools and hospitals have been bombed. Aid supplies have been cut off. Food and water are expected to run out within days. Collective punishment is being inflicted on innocent men, women and children for the actions of a paramilitary group. And yet the governments of the world have failed to call for so much as a ceasefire.
It is unimaginable to think that the RAF would have systematically and relentlessly carpet-bombed Newry, or Belfast, or Derry in retaliation for the actions of paramilitaries. Imagine that for a second though. Imagine, in the midst of that carnage, that the wounded receiving treatment, or the displaced seeking safe refuge, were then bombed in the sacrosanctity of a hospital, or a place of worship. What would the response of the world have been? To equivocate? To brazenly state that innocent civilians deserved that comeuppance for the actions of paramilitaries? To offer blank cheques and statements of iron clad support for those authorising the attacks?
To observe the dehumanisation of Palestinians in media has been staggering. To inextricably link Palestinian civilians with the actions of Hamas is both morally wrong and factually inaccurate. The civilians being murdered in Gaza are every bit as innocent as the civilians who were murdered in Israel, and if we allow our outrage and indignation to be limited or inhibited on the basis of what passport a victim holds, we aren’t just debasing the humanity of Palestinians, we are debasing our own.
For us, this is personal. The human beings dying on our screens are not just abstract statistics in some God forsaken place. We have broken bread with these people, kicked football with them, laughed with them, and celebrated weddings with them. But you don’t need to know someone to defend their dignity. You don’t need to have met someone to know that their life is as valuable as your own. There is a moral obligation upon every single person to use their voice, however small it may feel, to defend the human dignity of every innocent person trapped in this brutality.
There is also a moral obligation on the governments of the world who have pledged their support and friendship for Israel to recognise that friends tell each other the truth. And the truth is that an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Western nations must use their considerable power to insist upon the immediate establishment of humanitarian corridors into Gaza, a complete cessation of hostilities, and an urgent resumption of dialogue between both sides to establish a just and lasting peace, where the dignity and security of both Israel and Palestine are guaranteed.
If the governments of the world were to hold themselves to their own values and insist upon the cessation of violence, then not a single person more would need to die. The whole world is watching – but watching isn’t enough. It’s time for action.
Since returning Pete, Killian, and the local volunteers have continued their advocacy for humanitarian support for Palestinians. They are currently working towards formalising their support structures, so as to facilitate the reception of Palestinian students on cultural exchange programmes, and to establish mechanisms for continuous and sustainable local support for Palestinian communities at a grass-roots level.
