Cork campaigners welcome recognition of State of Palestine but say more needs to be done

CORK campaigners have called for more to be done after Taoiseach Simon Harris announced that Ireland will officially recognise the State of Palestine.

Mr Harris said that recognition of the Palestinian State will be effective from May 28.

He said the decision was based on a belief in “permanent peace” and taken due to Ireland’s understanding of a country’s fight to be recognised internationally.

Joining Ireland in the move to make this official recognition is Spain and Norway, with Mr Harris stating that he is confident in other countries soon following suit.

Izzedine Alkarajeh, owner of Izz Café, a Palestinian restaurant in Cork, said: “On a personal level, this is a long-awaited decision, [that] is in line with the recognition of the people of Ireland.

“Palestinians in Cork, Ireland, and around the world are celebrating this day. Recognising Palestine as a sovereign state is a major milestone that we hope will influence other countries and nations to do the same.

“This is the first move to politically recognise Palestine, [but] there should also be sanctions. We need to practice our freedom.”

Meanwhile, Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign co-chairperson Martin Shiel said: “This isn’t something that any of the Palestinian groups that we work with have called for.

“It’s not an essential demand of the Palestinian movement. The main thing that we will be calling for at this stage, the most important thing that they should be doing, is sanctions. We fear that people will begin to think we’ve actually achieved something or made significant progress here, but in fact, we would say the opposite.

“While Ireland is recognising the state of Palestine, it is not taking concrete actions to stop the destruction of Palestinian people. Without sanctions, recognition of the State of Palestine is of no real use.”

Cork North Central Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Mick Barry said: “Recognising the State of Palestine is positive insofar as it goes, but the Government need to go much further and implement sanctions now.”

Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin is to travel to Brussels on Sunday to meet with 40 countries, where a focus is expected on the Arab states’ proposed peace plan and Palestinian recognition.

Shortly before Mr Harris made the announcement outside Government Buildings in Dublin, Israel recalled its ambassador in Ireland, Dana Erlich, “temporarily for consultations”.

Israel’s foreign affairs minister, Israel Katz, called Palestinian recognition a “distorted step” and said he has “issued a severe démarche” to the Irish, Spanish, and Norwegian ambassadors to Israel.

Israel’s embassy in Ireland said that it views Ireland’s move to recognise Palestine as “undermining its sovereignty and security” and as “damaging to our bilateral relations”.