The Clare-based Chairperson of Sadaka believes Donald Trump’s recent comments and actions relating to Palestine could lead to a breakdown in the Gaza ceasefire.
The US President has today imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court on the basis of his claim that the court’s investigations into the US and Israel are “illegitimate and baseless”.
It’s three days since Trump outlined his plan for the US to take ownership of a sovereign Palestinian territory and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
In this time, international condemnation has been widespread, with one US senator describing the policy as “ethnic cleansing by another name” while the Palestinian Authority says the calls “represent a serious violation of international law”.
The plans has been widely welcomed in Israel however and Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has instructed the army to prepare a plan to allow for what he calls the “voluntary departure” of Gazans from the enclave.
Furthermore, he’s suggested that countries like Ireland, Spain and Norway who have in his words “falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza” should accommodate the displaced Palestinians.
Newmarket-on-Fergus native and Professor of Politics at Dublin City University Donnacha Ó Beacháin says the plan “goes against every aspect of international law” is therefore is unlikely to come to pass.
Today, the US President has signed an executive order paving the way for economic and travel sanctions against those who work in the International Criminal Court.
The move is in response to the court’s decision in November to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Trump has described the allegations as “illegitimate and baseless” while claiming the court has “abused its power”.
Since the Gaza ceasefire came into effect, 26,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank.
Kilmaley native and Chairperson of Sadaka – the Ireland Palestine Alliance Eamon Meehan believes the West Bank was Israel’s target all along and fears recent developments could lead to a resumption of violence in Gaza.
