Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Significant Victory on Boycott Front in Ireland

Seán Clinton 26 November 2006



On Saturday 25th November the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) mounted a successful picket outside the entrance to the Limerick branch of the Atlantic Homecare chain store in Ireland. After refusing to move the picket when approached by security guards the protestors eventually agreed to call off their action after the store manger removed from sale all of the Israeli manufactured Keter Plastic products in the store. Within two hours of the commencing the action IPSC members witnessed pallet loads of the Israel made plastic storage boxes, wheelbarrows and garden sheds being taken off the sales floor. 

Palestinians hail Irish academics' support of Palestine

David Landy 21 November 2006



Irish academics were thanked this week in an open letter, signed by over 100 academics and 1,000 students of Birzeit University near Ramallah, Palestine. The thanks were addressed to the 61 Irish academics who wrote a public letter in September calling for a moratorium on EU aid to Israeli universities, until Israel abides by international law and basic human rights norms. The letter, published in the Irish Times on September 16th, has caused a public stir in Israel; the education minister Yuli Tamir has travelled to England to ‘verify if they [the signatories] are lecturers who have influence’. 

National boycott action targets Irish stores selling Israeli goods

18 September 2006



Shops and supermarkets across Ireland were picketed on Saturday as the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) commemorated the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacres with a National Boycott Israel Day. IPSC members targetted retail outlets in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Sligo, to send a message to Irish retailers that continuing to trade with Israel while it obliterates Palestine is grossly unethical and gives both financial support, succour and legitimacy to Israel’s escalating and unchecked violations of Palestinian human rights. The National Boycott Day was also intended to educate consumers as to the extent of Israeli goods in their shops. 

Irish tramline forced to cancel contract with Israeli occupation authorities in Jerusalem

18 August 2006



The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is delighted to announce a small but significant victory in the international struggle against Connex and the illegal Israeli tramline being built by them on occupied Palestinian territory. Connex had been planning to allow the Israeli staff of an illegal tramline project in occupied Easy Jerusalem to train on Dublin’s Luas light railway. Connex (who in Ireland now operate under the name Veolia) also runs the Luas system. The Luas has only been running for a few years and it is likely that the tramline currently being built by Connex in occupied East Jerusalem is a near identical system. 

Opposition Parties Unite to Condemn Government Approach to Palestine

11 May 2006



“Destructive” “Wrong” “Hypocritical” – these are the words which Ireland’s main opposition parties have used to describe the Irish government and EU policy on the Middle East. The IPSC welcomes the stance taken by the main opposition parties regarding reversal of the sanctions imposed on the Palestinian National Authority by the EU. In recent weeks the Foreign Affairs spokespersons for each of the main parties have issued unequivocal statements condemning the EU’s position – which has continued despite some recent cosmetic changes. 

Irish Limerick City might soon become world's first Caterpillar Free Zone

6 April 2005



Limerick City Council will soon consider a motion put forward by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supported by the family of the murdered American human rights observer Rachel Corrie, to declare Limerick City the world’s first Caterpillar Free Zone. The motion calls on the City Council to ban the use of all Caterpillar plant and machinery on Council worksites from January 1st 2006, and calls on all traders in Limerick City to implement a voluntary ban on the sale of Caterpillar merchandise. Limerick City Councillors have a precedent-setting opportunity to declare the world’s first Caterpillar Free Zone, thereby sending a resounding message to Caterpilar shareholders and directors when they meet in Chicago on April 13.