By MEMO, April 10, 2018
For the full article go to - https://tinyurl.com/ycwcrc6u
Dublin City Councillors yesterday voted to
back the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and
also urged the Irish government to expel Israel’s ambassador over the recent
killings of Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip.
According
to reports, “the Sinn Féin motion was passed at a monthly council meeting as
the party’s first Lord Mayor Mícheál Mac Donncha prepares to travel to a
conference in Jerusalem at the invitation of the Palestinian Authority.”
Councillors also passed a motion from People Before
Profit Councillor John Lyons “calling on the city council to boycott Hewlett
Packard goods and services with the company’s contract with the council due to
expire in September”, on the basis that HP is complicit in
Israel’s occupation.
Meanwhile,
Lord Mayor Mac Donncha said in a statement that he was travelling as Lord Mayor
of the capital city of Ireland to acknowledge East Jerusalem is the designated
capital of Palestine.
“I am
also here to express solidarity with the people of Palestine who are suffering
violence from Israeli forces, as witnessed in Gaza most recently with the
shooting down of protesters,” he said.
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) warmly welcomed the
support of Dublin City Council for the BDS campaign.
“Speaking
as a Palestinian and a Dubliner I’m so proud that the local government of my
adoptive the city has voted to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian
people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality,” said IPSC Chairperson
Fatin Al Tamimi.
“It is wonderful that Dublin City Council will now
become part of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
called for by Palestinian civil society. It is particularly welcome that the
council chose to focus on Hewlett-Packard and its spin-off DXC, as these
companies have been profiteering from the violent oppression of Palestinians
and illegal colonisation of their land.”
Al
Tamimi added: “BDS is the most effective way for international supporters of
Palestinians rights to put pressure on the Israeli state to end its decades of
colonial oppression of my people.”
The
full text of the BDS-related motion is as follows:
“Since
its violent establishment in 1948 through the ethnic cleansing of more than
half of the indigenous people of Palestine, the state of Israel has denied
Palestinians their fundamental rights and has refused to comply with
international law; noting also that Israel continues to illegally occupy and
colonise Palestinian land, discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel,
imposes an inhumane blockade and siege of Gaza and denies Palestinian refugees
the right to return to their homes, this City Council fully supports and endorses
the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for freedom,
equality and justice and commits itself to discontinue all business contracts
it has with Hewlett-Packard, both HP Inc. (PCs and printers), and Hewlett
Packard Enterprise for business and government services, as well as the HP
spin-off DXC Technology as HP and DXC provide and operate much of the
technology infrastructure that Israel uses to maintain its system of apartheid
and settler colonialism over the Palestinian people.”
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