Anger and shock: Cork man's 3-month visit to the West Bank

Some of the children walking to school were as young as six – but that didn’t stop the soldiers from attacking them with tear gas.

Cork man Sam Simpson is recalling his experience as a trained human rights monitor on the West Bank in the Middle East. He says that sometimes it was hard to believe what he was seeing.

The Dillon’s Cross native recently returned from three months spent monitoring human rights violations in the West Bank, a disputed land mass largely controlled by Israel.

“We met farmers who had been driven off their land and were refused access to it from then on,” he said. “We met people who had been imprisoned, and their families - some of them will never be the same again because of what they have endured.

“They are being tortured, half starved.

“They are crowded into cells and not allowed to wash.

“Systemic sexual abuse has been recorded by human rights organisations,” observes the 59-year-old, who now lives in the West Cork town of Schull and works as a supervisor with the West Cork Development Programme Tús Scheme.

Tomorrow, April 21, Sam and other participants in the human rights monitoring programme under which he travelled to the West Bank will make a presentation in Leinster House to TDs and Senators about the atrocities they witnessed in the region.

Sam’s trip was rooted in a long-held desire to live and work in the West Bank and witness first-hand what was happening there.

Last year, he travelled to the war-torn region with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), run in the UK and Ireland by the Quakers, where he lived as a human rights monitor.

Their brief was to monitor and document human rights violations witnessed by the team for the United Nations, human rights groups and aid organisations.

“We met with families in their homes. We heard their stories and accompanied them to sites where human rights violations had occurred. Sometimes, we were even present when human rights violations occurred.

“We saw schoolchildren being attacked by soldiers with tear gas for no reason,” he recalls, adding that attacks even took place when the children, aged between six and 16, were accompanied by human rights monitors.

“We also witnessed house demolitions. Many Palestinian homes have demolition orders because they’re not allowed to build on their own land.”

“The army would arrive and the parents might only have time to get the kids and important documents out. The army used JCBs and rock-breakers. They would even destroy fridges and cookers. It was very vindictive. It was hard to believe what you were seeing.”

A passionate interest in world politics had seen the Cork man first visit Palestine in 2016 to attend a conference for Palestinian Christians and hear their testimony. In 2018, he returned to the region:

“People’s land was being stolen. They were being locked down in towns and villages. People were being arrested and tortured,” recalls Sam, who says he also met with Jewish human right activists attempting to expose atrocities to their own people.

Sam returned to Ireland more determined than ever to tell people what was happening. However, he was also deeply aware that he himself needed to be more informed.

With this in mind, he travelled to Palestine with EAPPI to learn and see more.

“When I came back, I felt really angry with our politicians,” he says. 

“I am angered by the soft words and the crocodile tears from the government about Gaza. It’s hard to believe that you’re watching a people being wiped out because of who they are.

“It’s like watching a modern-day Cromwell clearing people off the land. In Ireland, we are in a unique position to really understand ethnic cleansing because of our own history.

“Our government should be standing up to represent the Irish people with actions, not just words!

“There are two things I would like the Irish government to do. The first is to enact the Occupied Territories Bill and stop postponing its implementation.

“I would also like to see our government campaign at EU level to end the special trade agreement with Israel until they comply with human rights legislation.

“Currently, there are about 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including hundreds of women and children. Thousands of these people have had no charge laid against them.

“Most have no legal representation and in most cases their families are not allowed to visit them.”

On his return to Ireland last January, Sam shared stories of what he had witnessed.

Tomorrow, he and some others who previously participated in the EAPPI in areas of the West Bank will make a presentation in Leinster House to TDs and Senators at an event organised by the Cross-Party Friends of Palestine Group.

Sam Simpson is available to give talks about his experiences to second-level schools and to church and community groups. To invite him, email simpsonsam87@gmail.com