Palestine - A call to action and some educational materials

We’ve previously reflected on the catastrophe in Palestine and on the importance of speaking out against the horrific injustice that’s continuing there.

You can read those reflections in our blog here. 

We want to ask for your support on behalf of Friends of the Earth Palestine (PENGON) and to share some of their testimonies.

As you can imagine, the organisations that make up PENGON – based in the occupied territories of both Gaza and the West Bank – have been operating under horrendous circumstances. 

One has reported that its office has been bombed and demolished. Another, which had been helping distribute water during the conflict, told us that over 60% of its employees have had their homes damaged or destroyed. And a third organisation has seen every one of its employees in Gaza displaced.

Friends of the Earth Palestine have also reported that one of their colleagues, Islam Ali, has been tragically killed in an Israeli airstrike in the south of the Gaza Strip, after being forcibly displaced from the Al-Shati Refugee Camp. 

These reports are a couple of weeks old at this stage - more tragedies, that we are not yet aware of, could have happened since. We can only hope against hope that PENGON staff and their families are managing to stay safe. 

But we know that hoping alone will not keep our colleagues in Friends of the Earth Palestine safe. Action is needed. Emergency protests, vigils and marches continue to take place all over Ireland. Please join them. 

Times like these invite us to consider the true meaning of climate justice. Now is an important moment to educate ourselves more and commit to both learning and unlearning.

With that in mind we include a few links to listening and reading material in the paragraphs below.  

We will never achieve the climate action we need if we look at the climate crisis in isolation. 

The injustice of climate breakdown, with those in the global South who have done least to cause it being hit first and hardest, and the occupation of Palestine are both underpinned by racism, colonialism, the West’s relentless drive to feed its fossil fuel addiction and the self-proclaimed “naked self interest” of the USA. Mary Robinson summarised the current situation well on Morning Ireland.

Standing in solidarity with the Palestinans is not only an obvious humanitarian impulse, it's part of challenging the systems and power structures preventing social, environmental and global justice.

The Palestinian led Boycott Divestment Sanction Movement (BDS) is a movement that has correctly identified the importance of interconnecting our struggles for justice and human rights. You can listen to a recent discussion between BDS organisers and members of Jewish Voice for Peace about that movement on podcast here or watch on YouTube here.

Now is also a time for us to learn about the crucial differences between repugnant anti-semitism and absolutely justified criticism of the Israeli state’s violence, dispossession and occupation.

Listen to Jewish scholars and organisers from If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace discuss this issue, along with many interconnected issues, on podcast here or watch on YouTube here.

Whether it’s through taking to the streets, contacting your TDs, getting involved in BDS or engaging with some of the materials shared above, your solidarity and action matters. 

It’s a dark and troubling time but there is some bit of solace to be found in taking action for justice together.