Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland receives no Holocaust funding

Jennifer Lipman — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:50:11 +0000

A Northern Ireland MP has questioned why a groundbreaking Holocaust education project is not available to pupils there.

The Holocaust Educational Trust’s “Lessons from Auschwitz”, which takes teenagers to visit the Nazi concentration camps and asks them to share their experiences with their peers back home, has been running since 1998. More than 17,000 students have taken part.

In that time only one trip has taken place involving participants from Northern Ireland.

The scheme was initially funded by the Treasury, but funding was subsequently transferred to the educational budgets of the individual devolved bodies. While money has been made available in England, Wales and Scotland, no funding has been allocated by the Northern Ireland Executive.

Speaking at a parliamentary session convened to mark Holocaust Memorial Day last Sunday, Social Democratic and Labour MP Mark Durkan said: “If there is one place that could benefit in a particularly poignant way from learning lessons from Auschwitz about prejudice, it is Northern Ireland” .

Moyle twins with Gaza

Marcus Dysch — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:31:34 +0100

One of Northern Ireland's smallest towns has officially twinned with Gaza City, after months of political argument.

The chairman of Moyle District Council attended a ceremony in the Palestinian city on Monday night.

Moyle, in County Antrim, has a population of 15,000 and is home to the world-famous Giant's Causeway. Councillors have been discussing the possibility of twinning for more than a year, and finally passed a motion last month.

Councillor Padraig McShane arrived in Gaza on Wednesday last week to embark on an eight-day visit. He met Hamas officials and visited medical facilities and schools before attending the ceremony. A Moyle Peace Park will reportedly be built in Gaza as part of the agreement.

Cllr McShane had initially proposed the twinning after taking part in a mission to deliver medical aid to the Palestinian city as a supporter of the Viva Palestina movement.

He held the casting vote last month when seven nationalist councillors voted in favour of the twinning, and six unionist councillors and one independent rejected it.

The Ulster Unionist councillor, Joan Baird, told colleagues who backed the twinning that it was "a disgrace". She said residents now joked that signs which featured an Irish fiddler, welcoming visitors to Moyle, could be interpreted as showing a man "holding a rocket-launcher".

The "overt political move" would damage tourism in the area and act as a "millstone around our necks", she said.

Cllr Baird failed in an attempt to overturn the decision during a follow-up meeting last week.

Councillors spent hundreds of pounds seeking legal advice while arguing over the implications for local residents. They were advised by the council's chief executive that the government had offered no definitive answer on the legal position.

Northern Ireland Assembly member David McIlveen, of the Democratic Unionist Party, said he supported colleagues who had asked the Northern Ireland Equality Commission to investigate the twinning.

MPs debate Israel and Northern Ireland comparison

Jennifer Lipman — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:05:13 +0100

Members of Parliament have cautioned against drawing comparisons between the situation in Israel and that of Northern Ireland before the Good Friday Agreement.

During a debate on Israel in Westminster Hall, called by Labour MP John Woodcock, it was pointed out that the peace process in Northern Ireland went ahead "with the Provisional IRA still on active operations".

Bob Stewart's point followed Mr Woodcock's statement that there could be no lasting peace in the region until Hamas abides by the Quartet principles to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previous diplomatic agreements.

Mr Woodcock, chair of Labour Friends of Israel, said: "There cannot be negotiation when one side at the table seeks to wipe the other off the map."

Mr Stewart, Conservative MP for Beckenham, responded: "The peace process [in Northern Ireland] went ahead…so perhaps one of those principles is not sacrosanct."

But Nigel Dodds, Belfast North MP, pointed out that Sinn Fein was only admitted to peace talks after it signed up to the Mitchell principles. "It was clear that it could not come to the table while still avowing terrorism," he said.

"The main difference between the two peace processes is that, to the best of my knowledge, Sinn Fein at no time called for the destruction of Northern Ireland," added Ilford North MP Lee Scott.

MPs debate Israel and Northern Ireland comparison

Jennifer Lipman — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:05:13 +0100

Members of Parliament have cautioned against drawing comparisons between the situation in Israel and that of Northern Ireland before the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Woodcock, chair of Labour Friends of Israel, said: "There cannot be negotiation when one side at the table seeks to wipe the other off the map."

Mr Stewart, Conservative MP for Beckenham, responded: "The peace process [in Northern Ireland] went ahead…so perhaps one of those principles is not sacrosanct."

"The main difference between the two peace processes is that, to the best of my knowledge, Sinn Fein at no time called for the destruction of Northern Ireland," added Ilford North MP Lee Scott.

Alderman 'disinvited' from Belfast Israel debate

Simon Rocker — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:08:14 +0100

The historian Geoffrey Alderman says he has been “disinvited” from a panel debate on the Middle East at the Belfast Festival due to take place tonight.

The festival’s director Graeme Farrow asked him to join Professors Avi Shlaim of St Anthony’s College, Oxford and Beverley Milton Edwards, of Queens University, Belfast, as speakers at the event.

Professor Shlaim is a noted critic of Israeli policy, while Professor Edwards is the author of a recent study of Hamas.

But on Friday Professor Alderman says he received an email from Mr Farrow withdrawing the invitation to be on the panel.

Mr Farrow told him that he had made “a mistake in agreeing to extend an invitation to you Geoffrey without consulting the academics in question”.

Professor Alderman, who has gone to Belfast, has rejected an offer to participate in the debate as a member of the audience. He said he was “appalled at the way I have been treated”.

After a meeting with Mr Farrow early this afternoon, Professor Alderman said he had given the organisers three options: to allow him to join the panel and if his fellow-panellists were to object, "they could stay away": to let him to take part while sitting on a separate table: or simply to call off the event.

But an hour before its scheduled start, the event appeared set to go ahead without his participation.
Professor Alderman, who is due to return to London tomorrow, described that as "outrageous".

Nobel prize activist causes scene at airport

Jennifer Lipman — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:03:44 +0100

Máiread Maguire, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has flouted the orders of Ben Gurion airport security officials by refusing to board a plane out of Israel.

Ms Maguire was prohibited from entering Israel following her involvement in an attempt to breach the naval blockade of Gaza in June. She was deported after the Rachel Corrie ship was boarded by the Navy and redirected to Ashdod.

At the time, she gave written confirmation that she would not attempt to enter Israel again. However onlookers said the 65-year-old caused a scene by refusing to board the flight to Britain.

Israeli officials agreed to allow her to remain in the country overnight. She is expected to fly home today.

Ms Maguire, a Belfast activist, was awarded the Nobel prize in 1976, for her efforts to bridge the gaps between Republican and Loyalist factions in Northern Ireland.

At a lecture in February 2009, under the auspices of the UK United Nations Association, she accused the Israeli government of having carried out a “crime against humanity and called on people to boycott Israel.

Northern Ireland Parades chief is Jewish woman

Leon Symons — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:24:50 +0100

he new chair of Northern Ireland’s Parades Commission has been greeted with a baptism of fire — almost literally.

Rena Shepherd has claimed a double first — she is the first Jew and the first woman to head the body, which maps out the routes for Ulster’s marching season. The season reached its climax this week with the annual Twelfth of July Orange Order and Apprentice Boys’ marches.

The Parades Commission was created as part of the Good Friday Agreement.

Trouble flared on Monday night in Northern Ireland, with 21 policemen injured — eight in Belfast alone — and vehicles set alight.

The 52-year-old Dublin-born mother and grandmother has been a Commission member for only 14 months, having worked in the private sector. She now runs her own business consultancy, Kislev.

Now she has to use the mediation skills she developed in business to gain agreement from sectarian leaders.

“It’s scary,” admitted Mrs Shepherd, “and it’s not something you do without thinking. I have to meet the leaders of all the communities and determine the routes they can use, but that’s not so difficult.

“I must consider what will be the outcome of the decisions we make. It’s very sad that both police and civilians were injured in the problems on Monday night. But this job was something I wanted to do. I felt I could make a contribution.”

She noted: “It is certainly true that as a Jew I am perceived as being impartial in some of the fundamental divisions here between Protestants and Catholics — and that obviously helps.”

While negotiating the routes of the marches, Mrs Shepherd kept in mind a prayer she found on a Lubavitch website. “I put ‘prayer for making decisions’ into Google and it came back with this one, which talked about giving wisdom and helping to take away one’s pride, ego and misconceptions and to do what is right for the world. I just use it all the time,” she said.

While Mrs Shepherd is not a member of Belfast’s Orthodox Hebrew Congregation, she is nevertheless a regular attender, with a number of friends who also go to the shul.

“There are lots of Jewish women around my age and we’re there most weeks. We do the all the festivals, the meals and the prayers and we have services for the children and I take my grandchildren along.”

She is also a fervent supporter of Israel. “I visit Israel at least once or twice a year and I have a property there. I love Israel,” said Mrs Shepherd.

As a council member of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, she is helping to organise a trade delegation from Northern Ireland to Israel under the auspices of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

She noted: “As Jews we know more than most that issues around history, identity and territory are fundamental human concerns and are not restricted to Northern Ireland.”

Co-existence fund’s lesson from Ireland

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Eighteen Israeli police commanders have been in Belfast this week observing how the Royal Ulster Constabulary keeps the peace and the lessons it holds for policing in Israel.

The officers were visiting under the aegis of the Abraham Fund, advancing co-existence and equality among Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens, which launched a UK Friends group at a reception at London’s Reform Club on Monday.

Amnon Be’eri Sulitzeanu — who came over for the launch with his co-director Mohammad Darawshe — told the JC on Wednesday that the aim of the police visit was to demonstrate law enforcement in centres of religious conflict. The Israelis also met Stormont politicians.

Mohammed Darawshe, Laurie Kaye and Micahel Howard at the launch

“We are trying to introduce Israeli police and decision-makers to these models so that police can provide equal services to Israel’s Arab population,” Mr Be’eri Sulitzeanu said.

Former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard was among the 200-strong crowd from across the religious spectrum at the Friends’ reception. He said that “one day there will be two states living side-by-side. And one day there will be compromises on the right of return and the status of Jerusalem.

“It’s the lack of trust on both sides that is preventing this, and the fears of both sides. One way is to prove that Jews and Arabs can work and play together. That’s what the Abraham Fund is all about.”

UK Friends chair Laurie Kaye told the JC that approaches were being made to potential donors and grant-making institutions “who share our belief that this is a win-win situation”.

The intention is to stage high profile discussion events involving all interested sections of the community and to organise trips by Jews and Muslims to Israel to see the fund’s work on the ground.