Press Release: Tuesday 15 April 2003

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 15, 2003 19:29 by Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign - IPSC supportpalestine at ireland dot com PO Box 9124, Dublin 1 01-6770253

MOCK FUNERAL TO PROTEST KILLINGS OF PEACE ACTIVIST & PALESTINIANS BY ISRAELI FORCES

A symbolic funeral procession and vigil will be held tomorrow evening, Wednesday 16 April, to commemorate the death, one month ago, of Rachel Corrie and the 21 Palestinians killed in house demolitions by the Israeli army over the last year. Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old American peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was killed in Rafah, Gaza Strip on the 16 March by an Israeli army bulldozer.

IPSC members and returned Irish ISM volunteers including Caoimhe Butterly, shot by Israeli soldiers in Jenin last November, and Dubliners Salah Afifi and Colm Breathnach (who also stayed in Palestinian homes in the West Bank to protect them from demolition) will carry a coffin symbolising the victims of Israeli house demolitions from the Central Bank Plaza, Dame Street, to the Israeli Embassy, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, where they will hold a vigil from 7.00pm to 8.30pm.

Caoimhe Butterly said: "The recent targeting of international witnesses in occupied Palestine is evidence of the growing sense of unaccountability of the Israeli occupation forces. The blight of war crimes and basic human rights violations that are committed on a daily basis in Occupied Palestine shows that there is a desperate need for independent witnesses and peacekeepers on the ground in Palestine."

Colm Breathnach, IPSC spokesman, said "Rachel Corrie died trying to protect the Palestinian people, who have been left defenceless by the outside world. If the United Nations took up its responsibility to protect civilians in Palestine, it would never have been necessary for Rachel and other ISM volunteers to go there. Sharon's talk of land for peace contrasts sharply with unfolding facts on the ground. It is now essential that the Irish Government press for international protection for the Palestinian people and for European sanctions against Israel until it starts to respect the human rights of Palestinian civilians."