Here is a quick presentation of the situation of Palestine and Ireland, and how their story can be put in parallel to each other.

1. Ireland and Palestine:
the History of Two Occupations

2. Part I: Background
A) Episodes of the History of Ireland
B) Occupation Through Education
C) Country: Before/After
A') Episodes of the History of Palestine
B') Occupation Through Education
C') Country: Before/After

3. A) Incipit
1169: Arrival of Norman
barons in Ireland
1199: Henri II's Lordship
of Ireland
Replacement of the
Catholic Church by the
Anglican Church
Redistribution of lands to
British landlords

4. A) Irish War of Independence
1886: Home Rule bill, never
applied
1916: Easter Rising
January 19, 1919: The Sinn
Féin proclaims the independence
of Ireland → the Irish war of
Independence breaks out
December 6, 1921: The
Anglo-Irish treaty ends the war;
6 counties stay to the United-
Kingdom

5. A) Dublin's Bloody Sunday
November 21, 1920:
several British agents
are killed
In the afternoon:
paramilitaries shoot at
civilians in retaliation
14 people died, of
whom 2 children
British authorities
expressed their regrets

6. A) The ''Troubles''
1960s: First demonstrations
for an equality of Civil Rights in
Ireland → 1990s: Good Friday
Agreement (constitutional
status of Northern Ireland as
part of the United Kingdom)
Numerous fights between the
Catholic population and British
forces, and between
Catholics/Republicans and
Protestants/Royalists

7. A) Derry's Bloody Sunday
January 30, 1972: People
march pacifically in the
streets against internment
without trial
A group of young people
separates from the crowd, and
pushes army's barricades
Intervention of the British
Parachute Regiment, shooting
with real bullets in the
unarmed crowd
In all, 14 civilians shot dead

9. A) Museum of Free Derry
“Free Derry” within Londonderry, during the Troubles, a poor
Catholic area
The Free Derry Corner is where the Bloody Sunday happened
Painting in support of Palestine on the external wall of the
Museum of Free Derry

10. B) Occupation Through Education
National language until the 12th century: Gaelic
Then it became forbidden to speak Gaelic under the British
monarchs
1921 → now: The Irish Free State has been doing efforts to
regenerate the Gaelic language; nevertheless, the majority of the
population speaks English as a first language

11. C) Country : Before / After

12. A') Incipit
1897: Theodor Herzl founds the
zionist movement
1917: British troops take Palestine
from the Ottoman Empire
November 2, 1917: The Balfour
declaration → United-Kingdom
favourable to the zionist project in
Palestine
The first Jewish colonists settle in
Palestine

13. A') Self-Determination
''Self-sufficiency'' or ''self-determination'': growing view of the
beginning of the 20th century – launched by the 2 main powers:
USSR and United-States
17th century → 1960s: The United-States are anti-Semite (in
front of shops: ''No Dogs or Jews Allowed''), so they don't want
Jews to come in big numbers
So even though the main part of the Jewish people wants to go
to the United-States and not to Palestine, they are redirected there
European countries are not ready to give up on the Arab world
→ “Arab threat”
Israel = ally in the Arab world, “buffer state” between French
Lebanon and the Suez canal

14. A') First Clashes
Nationalist movements grow in both Arab and Jewish camps
1920: Battle of Tel Hai and Jerusalem riots (or Nabi Musa riots)

15. A') The Al-Nakba
1947: The UN gives 55% of the
territory to Israel
May 14, 1948: Independence of
Israel, end of the British mandate
1947 → 1949: The al-Nakba, the
war between Arab and Jewish
populations
Outcome of the war: Israel's
territory grows from 55% to 77% of
the initial one

16. A') Deir Yassin Massacre
April 9, 1948: Deir Yassin, a Palestinian village near Jerusalem, is
attacked by paramilitary groups
107 villagers are killed, and 4 of the attackers die
The killings are condemned by the Haganah and the two chief rabbis
This massacre frightened a lot of Palestinians, fleeing their homes

17. A') The Six-Day War
June 5 – 10, 1967: Israel
VS Egypt, Jordan and Syria
In the end, Israel take:
- the Gaza Strip and Sinaï
Peninsula from Egypt,
- the West Bank and East
Jerusalem from Jordan,
- the Golan Heights from
Syria.

18. B') Occupation Through Education
In Israel's schools, the books teach that either there was no
one there before the Jewish people, or at least that the
Palestinians living there fled voluntarily

19. Country: Before / After

20. Part II: Exodus
A) Irish Exile
B) A figure of Irish Resistance
C) Consequences of the Irish Exile and the Ulster Issue
A') Palestinian Exile
B') A Figure of Palestinian Resistance
C') Consequences of the Palestinian Exile and the future of Palestine

21. A) Persecution → Exile
Unfair system of land tenure
Troubles: Catholic “pogroms”

22. A) Famine → Exile
1845 – 1852: The Great Famine (the “Black Death”)

23. B) An Irish Figure: Bobby Sands
Catholic Northen Irish, a
martyr for the Irish cause
While in prison he writes
articles and poems, still quoted
today
During his internment, he is
elected as Member of
Parliament
1981: He started the Irish
Hunger strike
May 5, 1981: He died after
66 days of hunger-striking, at
27 years old

24. C) Consequences of the Exile
Irish communities
throughout the world
(America, France,
Scotland, Wales, England,
Australia, New-Zealand)
A renewal of “Irish
identity” by the young
generations

25. C) The Issue of Ulster
Northern Ireland (6 of
the 9 counties of Ulster)
Remaining tensions
between Catholics and
Protestants
Many Irish people still
want the reunification of
the country
June 2012: Martin
MacGuinness (Sinn Féin
leader) shook hands with
Queen Elizabeth in Ireland

26. A') Expulsion
1948: on the declaration day of Israeli Independence:
700 000 deportations
→ Revocation of their residency rights, expansion of
settlements, construction of the West Bank Separation Wall

27. A') Living Conditions in Gaza
The everyday-life of Arab
Palestinians:
- Families torn by
a blockade or the
Separation Wall
- Regular bombings
- Peasants disowned of
their lands
- Hospitals without means
- Refugees stretching on
three or four generations

28. B') A Palestinian Figure: Leïla Khaled
Exile to Lebanon
Member of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP)
1969: Hijacking of an airplane.
Release from prison in
exchange for civilian hostages
kidnapped by PFLP members
Member of the Palestinian
National Council
2005: Invited as a speaker to
the Féile an Phobail in Belfast

30. C') Consequences of the Exile

31. C') Future of Palestine
Two options:
- On the one hand, the creation of 2 separate states (path
which is being taken right now) → risk of ethnic cleansing and
more deportation
- On the other hand, the creation of one single state, where
every one could have the same rights