The award winning film ‘The Iron Wall’ was screened at the joint Trocaire/Amnesty film night held in the Victoria Hotel last  Monday night (Feb 16th.) The film vividly outlines the effect of settlements and the wall on the daily lives of the Palestinian people -Photo Michael Hussey(YoughalOnline.com)

Speaking on behalf of Trocaire, Sheila Dillon emphasised the humantarian relief required, and that it will take years to rebuild Gaza. She also mentioned that it can take weeks for relief to arrive by sea or land. By logging on to the trocaire.ie site a person can make a donation to buy an olive tree or anything else they would like to donate. Youghal native, Jay Flavin, Amnesty Cork leader, told YoughalOnline.com that Amnesty does not support or oppose any political party or support or oppose any religon, our sole vision is to seek the benefits of the universal declaration of human rights for every individual, regardless of ethnic origin, gender or sexual orientation. We do not support ” boycotts” because they are a form of collective punishment against a people.We do support arms embargos or measures which target human rights violators directly. We will be launching a campaign to maximise EU influence on the Israeli Govt this week, as the EU -Israel agreement is due to be upgraded, log onto amnesty.ie

Jay also highlighted that the targeting of civilians, by any side in a conflict, is a war crime.
He also said that while it can frustrating to see the loss of life and injury to children and families, that persistance pays off as was recently shown by the the closing of Guamtanamo Bay. He also said that when campaigning for an end to aparteid in the 80′s and 90′s that there were times when he felt powerless and wondering if anything would change, and of course aparteid is history now and i urge you to help make human rights abuses in Palestine and Israel history also.

Amnesty is independent of governments, corporations and vested interests, please help our campaings by logging onto the action centre, (you don’t need to be a member) at amnesty .ie and or make a financial contribution, no matter how small. Amnesty Cork Group can be contacted at amnesty.cork@gmail.com or Jay on 087 8128236.

Amnesty International – Cork Local Group