Book probes documentary film depiction of Palestine refugees

A reminder that a book launch in Kilcullen Town Hall on Sunday next, 22 June, will provide an opportunity for a discussion on how the plight of Palestinian refugees was depicted in documentary films up to the 1993 Oslo Agreement, writes Brian Byrne. The event is being hosted by the Kildare Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Between Reality and Documentary was written by Palestinian author Shahd Abusalama, academic, author, and artist, born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza. The book was produced through her research for a PhD at Sheffield Hallam University. The launch is at 6pm and Shahd Abusalama will be taking questions.

The author's theme probes Western narratives and Zionist propaganda, which she says tried to 'erase' Palestine and distort global perceptions, and the work of Palestinian filmmakers who worked to counter this. Film sources examined include British Pathé, newsreels, Quaker, and UNRWA documentaries, and Palestinian opposition cinema developed between 1968 and 1982 and continuing to the Oslo peace deal in 1993.

A 35 percent discount code on the list price of Between Reality and Documentary will be available to those at the launch.

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Irish neutrality for debate in Kilcullen tonight

Irish neutrality is not enshrined in the constitution but has been a policy of Ireland's governments since the formation of the state in 1922, writes Brian Byrne. The current and future status of this policy will be discussed this evening in Kilcullen Town Hall.

Does the policy, which has been defined in different ways over more than a century, fit in with the reality of today's geopolitics? Are we as a nation in a position to defend our neutrality against any aggressor who might not care very much about the niceties of the policy? Are we being naive in posturing neutrality while in reality depending on NATO member countries to protect us? How real is the value of military neutrality to the perception of Ireland abroad that we like to assume for our UN peacekeeping and NGO aid activities?

These are some of the questions that may or may not be pursued in this evening's session of the Neutrality Roadshow being hosted in Kilcullen Town Hall from 7.30pm this evening. Main speakers are Niamh Ní Bhriain, the coordinator of the Transnational Institute’s War and Pacification programme, and Fionn Wallace, a researcher and political writer.

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Neutrality discussion for Kilcullen

Ireland's UN peacekeepers. Image: Ireland.ie.

A reminder that a public meeting on Irish neutrality, The Neutrality Roadshow, will take place at Kilcullen Town Hall on Thursday next, 29 May at 7.30 pm. The main speakers will be Niamh Ní Bhriain, the coordinator of the Transnational Institute’s War and Pacification programme, and Fionn Wallace, a researcher and political writer who has worked in the European Parliament. 

The Roadshow, on a one-month tour of Ireland, will discuss the recent legislation brought to Cabinet which aims to eliminate the UN mandate element of the Triple Lock, a mechanism that regulates the deployment of Irish Defence Forces overseas. Last week, local peace activist Liz Cullen said Ireland must retain the Triple Lock on the country's peacekeeping activities in order to fulfil a Constitutional obligation to be a peacemaker. 

The event will be chaired by a local member of the Kildare Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

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Gaza now leads infamous 'criminal mass bombings' list

Col Des Travers in Kilcullen Town Hall last night.

Gaza has not just joined the list of 'criminally' infamous mass bombings such as Guernica, Dresden, Berlin, and Hanoi — it has taken a place at the top of that list, writes Brian Byrne. That stark fact was put before a meeting in Kilcullen last night by a respected Irish retired soldier and experienced war crimes investigator. 

Longtime Kilcullen resident and highly regarded internationally military analyst Col (Retd) Des Travers, a member of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations in The Hague, was reflecting on his investigations of Israel's conduct in Lebanon in 2006, in Gaza in 2008-2009 and again in 2014, and how that informs the current horrendous war in the Middle East. The talk in Kilcullen Town Hall was organised by local friends of Palestine. 

Col Travers also suggested that the true horror of what's currently happening in Gaza may only become known in the future, "if relevant authorities are allowed to come in and investigate." But that future itself is uncertain, he told the Diary, saying he is 'distraught' at what he calls the 'connivance' between the new President of the United States and Israel's Prime Minister in an effective curtailment of any possibility of investigation for war crimes. 

That war crimes are being committed openly in the eyes of the world and that those committing them seemingly don't care that they can be seen is 'really frightening', Col Travers says, calling the numbers of civilians killed in Gaza as 'off the register'. "The one positive thing is that Israel's Prime Minister, Minister for Defence, and Chief of Staff of the Israeli forces have now been indicted for war crimes and genocide. The word 'genocide' now hangs over that landscape. It's there, and the stigma is there, and will be there unless and until they do something about it and about their allies and their neighbours around them."

But with what he sees as Britain 'grovelling' in making a deal with Israel to resist any attempt to bring their leaders to justice at the International Criminal Court, 'ambivalence' by Germany and other countries, and the only country 'standing tall' in support of Palestine seeming to be Ireland, does the stigma of genocide mean anything anymore? "Well, some of the information I'm getting, from sources I consider reliable, say that if the Israeli population were as well informed about what's happening in Gaza, as we outside Israel are, at least half of them would have a problem with what's going on. That's a lot of people, but the hardcore minority is very, very corrupt, and it's money and their defence industry — which is making a packet with this war — that's keeping it going." He also cites the influence of the armaments industry in the US. "Some 40,000 bombs have been delivered from the US, and reportedly fired. It is beyond normal."

Col Travers raises the possibility of a total collapse in world order if things continue as they are in various conflict and political scenarios. "That is a vista that I hope never happens, for the sake of our children and grandchildren and everybody else. What I hope is that it will look so bad that the only direction it can go is back up towards the rule of law and the centrality of values." What does he believe is required to make that happen? "I read an article a week ago that we are now nearer to a nuclear war than people realise. If that comes closer, we'll have to get our act together, because everyone is aware that would be absolute ruination."

In 2006 Col Travers made a perilous trip through south Lebanon on behalf of Amnesty International and documented what he called an 'obscene war' in which Israel had killed many civilians and used illegal cluster bombs. In 2009 he worked on the ground with a UN investigation led by South African judge Richard Goldstone which found 'strong evidence' of serious violations of international law by Israel in their 'Operation Cast Lead' war in Gaza with Hamas, including instances of crimes against humanity. In 2014 he spoke out about Israeli corruption and misappropriation of international funds pledged to rebuild Gaza after their summer 'Protective Edge' campaign against the enclave. During all this he became a personal focus of abuse and vitriol by Israel. 

Since all those events, not a lot seems to have changed? "The sad thing for me is that, in two decades, it has got worse," he corrected me.

READ: 'An obscene war' 

READ: Des Travers testifies to war crimes tribunal 

READ: Kilcullen soldier questions Israel's Gaza strategy 

READ: The Gaza rebuild: a corruption of war 

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