Israel’s re-invasion of the Gaza Strip, which to date has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, did not begin in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. But their current, ongoing occupation and campaign of mass murder has led the International Court of Justice to consider classifying it a “genocide”. Amnesty International, meanwhile, has decided that there is no other word for it, directly accusing Israel of that most heinous of crimes.

Israel has engaged in indiscriminate bombardment, killing tens of thousands of civilians, including over 10,000 children. It has cut off basic necessities, made it impossible for aid to get through in anything like the quantities necessary, and continues to attack infrastructure in Palestine, with the wholesale destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, schools, mosques – and, of course, homes.

At least a third of Palestinian tree cover and farmland has been wiped out, along with most of its schools, universities and hundreds of cultural landmarks. Organisations, agencies and experts across the globe have considered Israel’s war campaign an act of ethnic and cultural cleansing. Libraries, art institutions, archival depositories and heritage sites in Palestine are decimated every day, and meanwhile, the deaths and displacement of artists, writers, journalists and creatives have left a gaping hole in the country’s social fabric. More aid workers have been killed than in any other war since World War II. More journalists have been targeted and killed too. The list of war crimes committed by Israel is vast – and growing.

WORTH FIGHTING FOR

Despite the lack of intervention from world powers, most specifically the US, to demand and enforce a ceasefire, the defence of the arts in Palestine is not actually a lost cause. Organisations like Irish Artists for Palestine (IAFP) have worked tirelessly not only to raise awareness of the atrocities being commmitted against Palestinians, but also to provide its voices a platform to share their work and celebrate their indigenous traditions.

“Ruth Smith said it very well: ‘Music and art are proof of existence. It’s proof that people exist,’” says co-organiser of IAFP and singer, Pauline Scanlon. “When your culture and very existence are the target of an imperial power like Israel and America, then it’s evidence of your existence and your soul. It’s also evidence of the 360-degrees of humanity, and anything that we can do to facilitate that is what we’re about.

“So Irish Artists for Palestine came together quite organically, in response to the events after October 7. In times of crisis, like-minded people can achieve things together. You see it across the solidarity groups in every town in Ireland. There comes a time in life where you all look around and realise you’re the only people standing in the room. As artists, we are well placed to organise.”

For over a year, IAFP and satellites of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have organised protests and rallies, as well as fundraising events, with all proceeds going towards Palestinian organisations and communities.

“The money we raise is focused on small, community-based organisations in Palestine, like community kitchens and schools for the forcibly displaced, whose homes have been destroyed,” Scanlon continues. “We also have direct cash supports for families and people who have been able to get out and are currently living as refugees.”

A few weeks ago, IAFP held their first cross-cultural exchange, United In Song, which spanned four dates across Ireland. For the event, Galway natives Fergal Scahill and Ruth Smith were joined on stage by Mohammad Kahla and Abed Alqam, who travelled from Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine. Fundraisers were held in the lead-up to United In Song to finance Kahla and Alqam’s journey to Ireland, which took two days.

The United In Song artists

IAFP recently released a recording from the event of ‘Óró Sé Do Bheatha Bhaile’,  featuring Smith, Scahill, Kahla and Alqam, as well as Scanlon, MayKay and Eamon Murray. The song dates back nearly 300 years in Ireland, from its Jacobite origins to Padraig Pearse’s reimagining, as a symbol of resilience. Unveiling the single offers a bridge between the musical traditions of Ireland and Palestine.

“We really saw great value in doing this exchange,” says Pauline, “because it’s amazing to have people come and tell the story they want to, through their music, to Irish audiences. There was a renewed focus and drive to re-energise the group and the campaign through that, which was brilliant. Their stories and music really resonate with Irish people because they have echoes of sean nós and laments, and echoes of our own occupation.”

IAFP co-organiser and Fight Like Apes frontwoman, MayKay, says that the United In Song event, “broke me a little bit, but also restored my strength and resolve in fighting for Palestinian liberation, that we’re in it for the long haul. When I heard Abed singing, I realised we’re doing the right thing and we’re not going to give up.

“In this place called Masafer Yatta, which was a farming land that’s been overrun and burned, there’s a sign in the middle of it that says, ‘On this land, there is something worth fighting for’. When we watched the performance, we realised that no one is taking this away.”

MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

MayKay visited Palestine in summer 2023, which she credits as a transformative experience. She travelled to Bethlehem in the West Bank to volunteer at the ACLAÍ community gym, located within Lajee Centre in Aida Refugee Camp. Ainle – a Belfast-born gym owner – and then Director of the Lajee Centre, Salah Ajarma, opened the gym in 2020, hoping to provide the residents in the Aida Camp with communal pitches, recreational facilities and various health, educational and cultural resources. MayKay says getting to see Palestine and work with its people changed everything for her.

“I felt mental getting on that plane, and going to a place you’re famously discouraged from going,” she reflects. “We were raised with that bias that still exists in the world, not by our parents but by western society. But once I got there, I never felt safer. I feel safer in that camp than I do anywhere else in the world.

“I got to work with loads of young people on music and songwriting. I didn’t know how it would work initially, I kind of presumed it wouldn’t because of the language barrier. I don’t have any Arabic, but lots of them have great English. We didn’t really need it in the end.

“Music and humour can transcend language like nothing else. With the help of some amazing facilitators, we were able to exchange music. When we weren’t really able to have conversations, we’d sit on the roof of this centre and just exchange songs. For the most part, I could understand what they were singing, even if I didn’t speak the language. What I saw there changed the makeup of my body.”

According to MayKay, the purpose of supporting Palestine does not mean necessarily having to invest yourself in the political history spanning over seven decades. Palestinians, many of them women and children, are being slaughtered even at the time of writing this. With this, MayKay asserts that being pro-Palestine is a matter of moral and ethical responsibility.

“It’d be really handy for Israel if we all went away, if we all got tired and stopped doing what we’re doing,” she says. “But we feel very well positioned as artists to speak up. This is never to shame anybody who isn’t speaking, but to offer access points to people who feel they don’t understand the politics of it. A lot of people say that they don’t support a certain aspect of Palestine, and you don’t have to. You don’t have to stand up and go through the history of Palestine from 1948 or talk about daily life there now.

“We are a pro-Palestine organisation and anybody who wants to express themselves or show solidarity can do it in many different ways. You have to know when something’s wrong and know that we can make a change.”

GET ONBOARD NOW

For IAFP, the task at hand is to continue organising and stay the course in spite of the perceived hopelessness. On a smaller scale, changes are being made. Families are being supported and charity organisations on the ground in Gaza are being directly funded by the work of Irish Artists for Palestine.

“In terms of the umbrella groups of Palestinian solidarity, everyone is working towards a common goal,” Scanlon notes. “I can say, without exception, that everyone is united in saying US war planes should leave Irish airspace, and that the funnelling of weapons through Shannon Airport and Aldergrove in the north must stop. We also need to enact the Occupied Territories Bill, which is why the latest election is so overwhelmingly disappointing.”

“I know Pauline and myself have the same thing that there are days where you think this is too huge,” MayKay continues. “The power of the other side is too strong. The conditioning and brainwashing is too big. But we must remember that it’s not just us. There are tonnes of people around the world being switched on at the moment.

“We’re all seeing the same images and videos, and hearing the same stories. I’ve had mornings where I’ve just wanted to throw my phone out the window, stay in bed and not engage. It’s okay to have those mornings.

“But we cannot drop the ball on this, because even though it doesn’t feel like it sometimes, we have made progress. The big thing we want to tell people is to get onboard now if you haven’t already. Maybe you feel ashamed, guilty or silly for putting it off, but just get onboard now. There are conversations to be had. There is fundraising to be done and messages to get across. There is always something to be done.”

• ‘Óró Sé Do Bheatha Bhaile’ is out now.