Readers of this site may recall a recent posting from myself drawing parallels between the land-grabbing basis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Troubles in Northern Ireland, in particular the fact that Catholics, who generally favour irish independence, identify with Palestinians as the victims, while Protestants, who want to stay British, empathize with the Israelis and hear echoes of their own fight against the IRA in what is happening in the Middle East.
Well, here’s a good example of what I was writing, from the Ballymoney and Moyle Times. The county council in Moyle, a small part of County Antrim in the far north of the island – and incidentally a gorgeous part of the country – recently voted to twin with Gaza city and will offer humanitarian aid to the Palestinian authorities there in a range of areas, from environmental matters through to urban planning and tourism.
The decision to twin with Gaza is the first by any Irish municipality but the vote was split exactly along sectarian lines.
The IRA’s political wing, Sinn Fein along with the moderate nationalist party, the Social Democratic and Labor Party, voted for the move but the two Protestant parties, the Unionists and Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) voted against.
The more cordial political atmosphere generated by the Irish peace process (Sinn Fein and the DUP now jointly govern the place) meant that the arguments pro and con were deliberately understated. While Nationalists stressed the ‘humanitarian’ nature of the move, Unionists said there were more deserving countries for their support. It was what we Irish call ‘a sham fight’ in which true sentiments are disguised. But the vote told the truth: Irish Nationalists support the Palestinians, the Unionists back Israel.
Ed Moloney blogs at the Broken Elbow.
