A report from the talk by Palestinian Human Rights Activist Khalil Shaheen By Ciaran O Carroll

Overwhelming numbers turned up to hear Khalil Shaheen, from the Palestinian Centre of Human Rights (PCHR), speak at the Irish aid building in O’Connell St, Dublin last Wednesday (20^th of January); so many that we had to jam the doors open!

Such a great turnout was no surprise for a man who has fought for the socioeconomic and cultural rights of the citizens of Gaza and has worked with PCHR since its establishment in 1995.

After applying for several years to get a visa to leave Gaza, Khalil finally managed to obtain one from the Israeli authorities and decided to spend two weeks in Ireland. He described how he was only able to see his sisters, for ten minutes in Cairo, despite not having seen them for fifteen years, before he had to board his plane.

He spoke about the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which has occurred since the blockade by Israel, in June 2007. This blockade has caused real hardship to the Palestinian people. Fuel, electricity and medical supplies were blocked from entering Gaza; and Palestinians, among other things, are now not allowed to study aboard.

The destruction caused by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in December 2009, was at the heart of his passionate and thought provoking talk. Kahlil spoke of the extensive damage the offensive caused to homes, civilian infrastructure, public services, farms and businesses and how little has been repaired because the civilian population, and the UN and aid agencies who help them, are prohibited from importing materials like cement and glass in all but a handful of cases.

Khalil was lucky to survive Operation Cast Lead. Otherwise known as, The Gaza War, this was a three-week military conflict between Israel and Hamas (Palestinian group) that took place in the Gaza Strip, and southern Israel, during the winter of 2009. He was nearly killed in the Israeli’s initial bombardment as he left his office at rush hour on December 27^th 2009. He described harrowingly how he saw a young girl flung into the air by a rocket bombardment that killed 230 people in Gaza and injured 700 more.

Khalil Shaheen’s day job is the head of Economic and Social Rights Unit at PCHR. His job is ‘to ensure the importance of economic and social rights through research and study’. Their research and regular press releases are essential reading to anyone working objectively on human rights in the region.

Khalil Shaheen took questions at the end of the talk, and answered each diligently, writing down the question and his answer before responding.

When asked what a lone Irish person could do to help the people of Gaza he answered to join and become active in an organization like Amnesty International that lobbies governments and promote justice and human rights in the region.