Palestinian flag flies over Dublin City Hall

MICHAEL RIORDAN, DUBLIN

Pleas by Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, Ze’ev Boker for impartiality, fell on deaf ears ahead of the vote on Monday. Likewise defeated was a proposal by a Fine Gael party councillor to include a clause calling for both Israeli and Palestinian flags to fly in acknowledgment of “the suffering of civilians on both sides”.

Presented in early April, the original proposal called for the Palestinian flag to be flown for 28 days beginning May 15; the dates were subsequently amended.

In a letter to council members before the vote, Boker said many Israelis who came to Ireland to work and have since made their homes here, would be offended by the flag.

“What sort of message does this vote send to them?” he asked, warning that the unprecedented flying of the Palestinian flag would be “highly politically charged”.

There are now up to 1 500 Israelis living in Ireland, with most having arrived in recent years to work in the IT sector.

Ireland was the first European country to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation and has traditionally been one of Israel’s harshest critics in the EU. In separate 2014 motions, the upper and lower houses of Ireland’s parliament urged their government to recognise the state of Palestine. Also in 2014, the country accorded the Palestinian delegation in Dublin diplomatic status.

In February, Boker reportedly informed Jerusalem of Ireland’s intention to recognise Palestine in the wake of the passing in Israel of a controversial law legalising settlement homes built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.

The flag-raising motion was proposed by councillor John Lyons of the left-leaning People Before Profit party, and passed by 42 votes to 11, with seven abstentions. The motion had the support of Sinn Fein and other left-wing parties. The larger centrist Fine Gael and Fianna Fail party councillors opposed the motion.

According to the Irish Times, Lyons said the move would support communities living under a form of “apartheid, worse than South Africa”.

After the passage of the motion, Lyons said the flag raising is a “small gesture of solidarity from the elected representatives of Dublin City with a people struggling for self-determination, freedom and dignity in the face of the most horrendous Israeli occupation and apartheid system”.

The controversial meeting on Monday of the city council was briefly adjourned when a member of the public complained that a number of supporters of the motion were either members of, or supporters of, the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (IPSC). One council member had also acted in the past as a paid consultant to the Ireland Palestinian Alliance Committee.

Councillors supporting the motion to fly the Palestinian flag in the capital, said they intended it to “mark the 50th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank and highlight international support for the Palestinian people”.

After the vote, IPSC Chairman Fatin Al-Tamimi, an Irish citizen of Palestinian descent, said in a statement that Palestinian Dubliners would hold their heads high knowing that the people support their struggle. She said she found the result “deeply emotional on a personal basis”.

The decision to fly the flag was condemned immediately after the vote by grassroots pro-Israel group Irish4Israel’s spokesman. He told The Times of Israel the Palestinian flag raising “would have an extremely negative impact on Dublin’s international image and tourism.

“I was amazed to hear so many members of the council display such ignorance about the conflict,” Irish4Israel spokesperson said. “No Palestinian flag has ever been flown over City Hall before and it should remain just our county and EU flags’ honour.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.