Irish Republican Information Service (no. 286)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 17 Nollaig / December 2011

Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom

http://saoirse.info  

In this issue:
1. SAOIRSE editorial: Republican Sinn Féin defends its name
2. Statement ‘bogus’ – Continuity IRA
3. Agent provocateurs using the name Sinn Féin
4. Not a member of Republican Sinn Féin
5. Fight the cuts by refusing to pay property tax -- Republican Sinn Féin
6. Republican Sinn Féin supports student occupation of TD’s office
7. Bloody Sunday group to stage march on 40th anniversary
8. British army defuses bomb close to Keady RUC/PSNI barracks
9. Miami Showband murders: collusion between loyalist killers and State
forces
10. Statement from Christie Walsh
11. Checkpoint death family considers legal action
12. 300 guns stolen or lost from British army bases
13. Daniel Hegarty's family call for soldier's prosecution
14. Provo bosses let hunger-strikers die – they know who they are
and so do I
15. 1921 Treaty of Surrender on display
16. Friday of resistance in Bil'in

1. SAOIRSE editorial: Republican Sinn Féin defends its name


IT has become necessary to once again place on the public record
a number of facts and restate the position of Republican Sinn Féin
regarding the activities of a Limerick-based splinter group which has been
attempting to steal the historic and honourable name of Republican Sinn
Féin.

First of all it is important to provide the background to the
activities of this splinter group. We repeat here the facts set out by the
President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton at the 2010 Ard Fheis;
“On April 30, a statement appeared on a new Limerick website entitled
limerickrepublicans.com.

“It said: ‘Limerick Republicans formerly aligned to
RSF have taken a decision after consulting with the membership over several
months to dissolve the existing organisation in the city.’ A further
statement from the same source said they had formed a new grouping called
‘LIRO-Limerick Independent Republican Organisation’.

“Then they changed their name to “RSF – Real
Sinn Féin”. In a newspaper interview, a spokesperson demanded that
we hand over our offices in Dublin and Belfast and control of our monthly
paper SAOIRSE to them. These demands were angrily rejected by us
immediately.

“By October they had changed their name again, this time
they stole our honoured title Republican Sinn Féin. The name they threw
away in April they now embraced six months later. Now they claimed to be
the Republican Movement of history and said we consisted of only a small
number of individuals.

“We have not changed our name several times over six
months. We remain what we were for more than a century, through 1916 and
the First (all-Ireland) Dáil of 1919-1922 – the historic Republican
Movement and we yield to no one in that regard.”

The leadership of this splinter group comprises people who were
dismissed from, or refused to accept, the democratic decisions of various
Ard-Fheiseanna of Republican Sinn Féin, including the election of a new
President in 2009. It has also come to the attention of Republican Sinn
Féin that members of this splinter group have been using its name in the
Dublin area.

In Kerry the Comhairle Ceantair issued a statement in response to
an individual from the Listowel area who has similarly misused the name of
the organisation. Republican Sinn Féin reiterates that such people have no
connection to Republican Sinn Féin and calls on them to desist from such
actions immediately. This splinter group has attempted to sow confusion in
the minds of the Republican community and by its actions and criminal
activity has besmirched Irish Republicanism.

They should disband now, as they have no role to play. This was
highlighted when a small number of this splinter group were told to leave
the POW protest at the British Embassy on December 3 by Republican Sinn
Féin and the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, as a group with criminal
links is not welcome at any Republican meeting, demonstration, picket or
commemoration.

A banner carried by them bearing the name of Republican Sinn
Féin was taken from them to reinforce the point that they have no right to
use the name or title of the organisation.

Over its 106-year history Republican Sinn Fein has endured
repression and censorship from the British and 26-County states as well as
attempts by former Republicans to hijack or divert it from the road to the
All-Ireland Republic of 1916.

On each occasion these methods have failed and this latest
manifestation will be no more successful. Once more we call on people to be
alert to those who would attempt to cloak their criminal enterprises under
the noble banner of Republicanism and reject them for the frauds and
charlatans that they are.

2. Statement ‘bogus’ – Continuity IRA

IN A statement received on December 2 by media outlets, including
SAOIRSE, the Continuity IRA said:

“Statement from the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau


“Contrary to a bogus statement issued on November 30, the
Continuity IRA was no way involved in the recent shooting of David
D’Arcy. We see such a false statement as an attempt to associate us
with criminality and we reject such actions.

B Ó Ruairc
Rúnaí.”

3. Agent provocateurs using the name Sinn Féin

IN A statement on December 1, Comhairle Ceantair, Ciarraí, Sinn
Féin Poblachtach, said:
“In recent days it has come to our attention that allegations have
been made against members of our organisation at a commemoration to honour
Eddie Carmody, Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, at the monument dedicated to his
memory.

“These allegations come from a person or persons claiming
to be members of Sinn Féin Poblachtach (Republican Sinn Féin). They do
not represent our organisation in any way, shape or form.

“The facts are that this group can be described as a minute
group of people mostly from the Limerick city area who were at one time
members of our organisation, and were expelled because they refused to
accept the democratically-elected leadership at the 2009 Ard-Fheis.

“This is an elaborate and callous attempt to gain publicity
from wherever possible and to discredit our members in honouring the people
who have given their lives for the cause of a 32-County independent
Republic.
“They claim to be acting for the benefit of Irish Republicanism, but
their vindictive and petty attempts only serve those who have a vested
interest in keeping this country partitioned and occupied by British Crown
Forces and their police and civil apparatus in the Six-County Statelet.


“Back in 2009 this group issued statements in the media
that they were going to take over our offices in Dublin and Belfast and
also our newspaper SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom. This was another one of their
foolish, naïve and ill-conceived plans that failed simply because true
Republicans do not accept their ridiculous claims to the name of Sinn Féin
and only see them as agent provocateurs with their own self
interests.”

4. Not a member of Republican Sinn Féin

ON Saturday, December 3, John Horan. PRO, Comhairle Ceantair
Átha Cliath, Republican Sinn Féin, sent the following letter to the print
media:

“A chara

“In light of media speculation it needs to be clarified
that Liam Kenny, Clondalkin , resigned in writing from Republican Sinn
Féin on September 23, 2010 and on October 18, 2010, he accepted a letter
from the Clondalkin-based Máire Drumm/Kevin Barry Cumann of Republican
Sinn Féin confirming that his letter of resignation had been accepted.


“From September 23, 2010, Liam Kenny had no input, locally
or nationally, to or with the Republican Movement.”

In a further clarification, National PRO of Republican Sinn
Féin, Geraldine McNamara, wrote to the Limerick Post newspaper on December
6:

“Dear Editor,

“It has come to my attention that there are persons in your
area sending articles to your paper in the name of Republican Sinn Fein.


“I wish to point out to you that these people are not
members of our organisation as they were dismissed from it almost two years
ago.

“Mr Des Long is not Vice-President, neither is he a member.


“Our Vice-Presidents are Fergal Moore and Geraldine Taylor.
Our head Office is 223 Parnell Street, Dublin.

“We do not wish to be associated with these people nor do
we wish to see our name used falsely.

“If you wish further information please contact me or our
head office.”

5. Fight the cuts by refusing to pay property tax -- Republican
Sinn Féin

AT its December meeting the Ard Chomhairle of Republican Sinn
Féin called on people not to register in January for the 100 Euro property
tax.

“We are calling on people not to register for payment of
the 100 Euro property tax this coming January. This tax is just the latest
in a wave of attacks on working people by the 26-County Administration in
order to prop up the failed EU banking system and currency. By refusing to
register, working people will be empowering themselves while also sending
out a strong message to the political and financial elite that they will
not allow the many to be sacrificed in order to protect the vested
interests of the few.

“As we predicted, the last 26-County election did not
deliver any political or economic change. It was merely a case of
exchanging one set of gombeen politicians for another. For too long the
Leinster House political class have used working people as voting fodder at
election time, the campaign against the property tax allows ordinary Irish
people to once more find their own political voice. By thinking and acting
in their own interests rather than those of a powerful elite, this campaign
can be mark the beginning of the fight back against the cuts and the first
step in reclaiming our nation.”

6. Republican Sinn Féin supports student occupation of
TD’s office

ON December 4 Kildare Republican Sinn Féin expressed its support
for the students who occupied the constituency office of Fine Gael TD
Anthony Lawler in Naas. “Their action is a positive statement of the
determination of ordinary people throughout Ireland to resist the attacks
of the financial and political elite on essential social services as well
as education and health in both the 26 and Six-County states.

“Education is a right for all people and its provision a
marker of any civilised society. By its policies the present Fine
Gael/Labour administration is sacrificing not only this but future
generations to bailout the failed and undemocratic EU political, economic
and banking system. The radical action of a new generation in protesting
their right to access third level education gives hope for the
future.”

7. Bloody Sunday group to stage march on 40th anniversary

ON December 16 the organisers of a march to mark the 40th
anniversary of Bloody Sunday have defended their decision to stage the
event.

In a statement issued to the Derry Journal, signed by, among
others, the families of Bloody Sunday victims Jim Wray and William Nash,
the march organisers said: “We, as Bloody Sunday family members, feel
the need to commemorate this important anniversary in solidarity with the
people of Derry by continuing the ‘March for Justice’ - justice
that, in our opinion, has never been achieved.

“Over the years, the Bloody Sunday families have been
strongly supported by a broad range of groups and individuals from across
the world. Bloody Sunday has become synonymous with injustice and the march
has provided a platform for other people who have been denied a voice.


“We respect the right of everyone to commemorate the 40th
anniversary in a manner of their choosing.

“We would encourage everyone to support all commemorative
events. Equally, we would expect that our right to commemorate Bloody
Sunday by continuing with the traditional march should be
respected.”

The march organisers have invited the public to attend a meeting
in Pilot’s Row on January 6 at 8 pm.

8. British army defuses bomb close to Keady RUC/PSNI barracks


ON December 13 a British army bomb disposal team defused a bomb
in Keady in south Armagh which was discovered close to the RUC/PSNI
barracks. A number of houses were evacuated following a telephone
bomb. The device, which was taken away for forensic examination, was
described by British colonial police as viable.

9. Miami Showband murders: collusion between loyalist killers and
State forces

A LOYALIST assassin known as The Jackal received a tipoff from a
senior member of the RUC which that helped him elude justice over the
killing of an Irish pop band in the mid-1970s, according to a report by the
British Historical Enquiries Team (Het), which found that Robin Jackson was
linked to the murders of three members of the Miami Showband in July 1975.


The pop group were on their way back to Dublin when their minibus
was stopped by a fake army patrol near the border. The Het report found
that Jackson, a member of loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer
Force from North Armagh, had been linked to one of the murder weapons by
his fingerprints. Jackson later claimed in police interviews he had been
tipped off by a senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officer to lie low after
the killings.

Jackson, who emigrated for a period of the 1980s to South Africa,
has since died from cancer. In 1984 he helped organise the attempted murder
of the then Sunday World northern editor Jim Campbell, who had named
Jackson as the leader of the UVF in Mid-Ulster, which was responsible for
shootings and bombings against nationalists in the so-called “Murder
Triangle” of North Armagh.

The report, which was released on December 14, said Jackson
claimed he was tipped off that his fingerprints had been found on a
silencer attached to a Luger pistol used in the Miami Showband murders. The
Het team said the murders raised “disturbing questions about
collusive and corrupt behaviour”. It said the review “has found
no means to assuage or rebut these concerns and that is a deeply troubling
matter”.

The bogus army patrol comprised soldiers from the Ulster Defence
Regiment and UVF members in Armagh. Members of the band were made to line
up at the side of the road while one UVF member tried to hide a bomb on the
bus. The plan was that the bomb would explode en route, killing everyone on
board as it entered Dublin. But the bomb went off prematurely, killing
Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, who were members of the UDR, as well as
the UVF.

After the explosion the other members of the UVF gang then opened
fire on the band, killing lead singer Fran O'Toole, guitarist Tony
Geraghty, and trumpeter Brian McCoy. The bass player, Stephen Travers,
barely survived his injuries.

Three members of the UDR were eventually convicted for their part
in the attack. James Somerville, Thomas Crozier and James McDowell received
life sentences and remained in jail until their early release under the
terms of the Stormont Agreement in 1998 when Republican and loyalist
prisoners were given a de facto amnesty as part of the peace settlement.


Commenting on the report, band member Des McAlea, who survived
the attack, said: “It's been a long time but we've got justice at
last.” He described the Het findings as “quite shocking”
and “mind-blowing”. “The fact that there was collusion in
this is such a tragedy for all of us concerned,” he added. “To
think that people were supposed to be protecting us and they were actually
involved in this terrible tragedy.”

Former band member Des McAlea, who escaped the 1975 UVF attack by
fleeing across a field in the darkness, was overcome with emotion when he
addressed a press conference in Dublin on December 14.

He praised the families of those who were killed for the
“patience and dignity” they had demonstrated over the last 36
years.

“It’s been a long and winding road for all of them
and for us. Justice at last – hallelujah,” he said.

Stephen Travers, who was badly injured in the attack, said the
survivors and families of those who died would always want to know more
about what happened.

“But we’re very grateful for what we’ve got
today. What’s happened today is that the door has been opened . . .
they can’t argue when we accuse them of colluding with the
paramilitaries.”

David O’Toole, a nephew of the band’s lead singer,
Fran O’Toole, who was killed, said the family was “reasonably
happy” with the report.

“These dreadful murders absolutely tore apart our lives and
those of our families. They left two young women without their husbands and
four very young children fatherless,” David O’Toole said.
“We hope that this report can bring some closure to us and help us to
come to terms with our terrible loss.”

Keith McCoy, son of Brian McCoy, who was also killed, said:
“We the families of Tony [Anthony Geraghty], Brian and Fran, as well
as survivors Stephen and Des, have waited a very long time, over 36 years
in fact, to learn the circumstances surrounding the deaths of our loved
ones, who were shot down so brutally and so callously in the early hours of
a summer morning.”

10. Statement from Christie Walsh

“MY name is Christy Walsh and for 22 years I have been
trying to clear my name of a crime that I did not commit. I was convicted
in 1992 by a non-jury Diplock Court; where the pre-trial process involved
denial of access to a lawyer after my arrest and no right of silence during
interrogations. Despite being presented with signed copies of my statements
made during interrogations the Diplock Judge, John Petrie, convicted me for
remaining silent as his ‘main criticism’.

“In January 2002, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal,
having found my conviction to have been 'unlawful', then revived it on
entirely different grounds. In 2010, another Court of Appeal then found
the revived conviction 'unsafe'; observing that I am ‘a person of
previous good character’. Soon afterwards, the [Stormont] Justice
Minister, David Ford, MLA intervened to revive the malicious prosecution
case against me and he continues to do so. The following Department of
Justice internal advisory seemingly reflects the Justice Minister, and his
department’s, concern is that my innocence might expose other
injustices, as follows,

“He also refers to his previous (mistaken) suggestions that
we regard him as guilty... If Walsh's application succeeds it may gain a
higher profile and raise questions over other convictions’.

“In March 2010, before leaving the Court of Appeal, I took
one of the Prosecutor's files with me. I now hold in my possession
indelible evidence of serious impropriety within the NI Public Prosecution
Service which are the basis for the Justice Minister's concerns as
expressed above. The solid and overwhelming facts place the Prosecution
Service closer to the object of crime than they ever did me. For a
modest sample of the quality of evidence in my possession see
http://www.christywalsh.com/theprosecution.html

“The Justice Minister, David Ford, MLA is actively involved
in a cover-up of what appears to be serious criminal conduct by a Crown
Prosecutor, Mr Gary McCrudden. This email is intended to raise
awareness and prevent the Justice Minister from successfully concealing the
truth, and in that regard, I ask that if there is anyone whom you feel
should be aware, or, who might be interested in the facts of this case,
then please forward my email to them on my behalf.

"Thank you for your time.

Christy Walsh, December 14, 2011.

For more information see: http://www.christywalsh.com.

11. Checkpoint death family considers legal action

IT was reported on December 15 that the family of a young man
shot dead in a stolen car, as he tried to escape an RUC/PSNI checkpoint in
Ballinahinch, Co Down in 2006, say they are considering taking legal action
against the British colonial police.

It has emerged that the RUC man who opened fire on 23-year-old
Steven Colwell in April 2006 had a history of mental health problems and
had previously pulled his gun in a domestic incident but wasn't disciplined
over the Easter Sunday shooting and instead returned to work.

A report by British Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson has now found
that the RUC man’s judgements in relation to the incident at the
checkpoint were “critically flawed”.

The brother of Steven Colwell has said his family may take legal
action against the chief constable and the officer.

“We never received an apology personally from the police.
That's hard to accept," said Neil Colwell.

12. 300 guns stolen or lost from British army bases

MORE than 300 pistols, rifles and machine guns have been lost or
stolen at British army bases in the past five years.

Soldiers either misplaced the weapons or illegally sold them on
the black market. The figures obtained by a newspaper under the Freedom of
Information Act revealed that 45 pistols, 65 rifles and 76 machine guns
have been lost since 2006.

A total of 58 pistols, 52 rifles and four machine guns were
stolen. Of all 300, only 39 were recovered.

The worst year was 2010 when 82 guns were lost, 65 of them
machine guns capable of firing 750 rounds a minute. That same year 11 SA80
assault rifles – standard issue to British army troops in Afghanistan
and Iraq – vanished with six 9mm pistols.

13. Daniel Hegarty's family call for soldier's prosecution

THE sister of a 15-year-old boy shot dead almost 40 years ago has
said she wants the soldier responsible brought before the courts.

On December 9 jurors at the inquest of Daniel Hegarty
unanimously found that he posed no risk when he was shot twice in Derry
during Operation Motorman in July 1972.
His cousin Christopher was wounded.

Daniel's sister Margaret Brady said she wanted the courts to tell
the soldier he had committed a crime.

“Justice has been done, but at the end of the day this man
should be prosecuted. I'm not out for revenge, I'm just out for the
truth.”

The family's solicitor, Des Doherty, said prosecutions were now a
“definite possibility”.

“The full rigour of the law has to be applied and it is now
of course a matter for the coroner,” the solicitor said. “This
case was not about vengeance. It was about justice.”

The jury rejected claims that warnings had been shouted to the
two teenagers before they were shot.

The operation was aimed at reclaiming “no-go areas”
in the city from the IRA. Daniel, who was a labourer, was shot twice in the
head by a soldier close to his home in Creggan. His cousin Christopher, 16,
was shot in the head by the same soldier but survived.

The jury found that none of the soldiers present attempted to
“approach the injured youths to either search them or provide medical
assistance”.

This is the second inquest into Daniel's death.

In 1972 there were a number of “no-go areas” for the
British army in Derry.

The initial inquest was held in 1973 and recorded an open
verdict. A second inquest was ordered by the Six-County Attorney General in
2009 following an examination by the Historical Enquiries Team.

The report found that the RUC investigation at the time was
“hopelessly inadequate and dreadful”.

The inquest opened on Monday and heard from Daniel's sister
Margaret Brady. She described how her mother continued to set a place for
him at the table and call him for dinner for months after his death.

14. Provo bosses let hunger-strikers die – they know who
they are and so do I

AN ex-Provo prisoner who watched his comrades die on
hunger-strike has blasted the IRA leadership for their “needless
deaths”.

Richard O'Rawe says key IRA leaders should “hang their
heads in shame” for rejecting a secret British offer which could have
saved six hunger-strikers' lives in the notorious H-Blocks.

The West Belfast republican, who was the prisoners' public
relations officer, claims “six men with hearts like lions were let
die horrific deaths for nothing other than getting Sinn Féin votes”.


Four hunger-strikers were already dead when British Prime
Minister, Margaret Thatcher, capitulated and made her dramatic offer in
July 1981 effectively granting most of the prisoners' demands.

O'Rawe, who bravely lifted the lid in 2001 on the secret British
proposal to end the hunger-strike, was speaking after his account was
proven true by documents just lodged in an Irish university.

He's now urging republicans all over Ireland to urgently revise
their understanding of what happened during the H-Block death fast that
made headlines across the world.

“The evidence is there for all to see. It's the biggest
cover-up in the history of Irish Republicanism,” he told the Sunday
World.

The hunger-strike was run on the outside by a clandestine
committee set up by the Army Council. Its members included the North's best
known Provos who were also in Sinn Féin.

“These men should have the guts to finally come clean and
tell how they let six Republicans, whose boots they weren't fit to lace,
needlessly die horrific deaths in a H-block hell-hole.

“Let them explain how they rejected an offer which meant
Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Tom McElwee, Kieran Doherty and
Mickey Devine would all have lived.”

O'Rawe spoke of the threats and intimidation he and his family
had suffered since he exposed the leadership's lies. “ ‘Richard
O'Rawe H-Block traitor’ was written on the wall opposite my home.
Well, it's now as clear as daylight who betrayed the
hunger-strikers.”

Papers donated to the National University of Ireland in Galway by
Derry businessman, Brendan Duddy, show how the IRA prison leadership
accepted a substantial British offer to end the death fast.

Known as the 'Mountain Climber', Duddy was the messenger between
the British and the IRA. His notes show – as O'Rawe claimed in his
best-selling book Blanketmen – that the British made an offer on 5
July 1981 effectively granting the prisoners' five demands except free
association.

Joe McDonnell, the fifth hunger-striker, was hovering on the
brink of death so urgent action was required. Duddy relayed the offer to
Martin McGuinness who told Gerry Adams. Danny Morrison was then despatched
to the H-Blocks to brief Bik McFarlane, the IRA commander in the jail.


When he returned to his cell, McFarlane told O'Rawe the good
news. “We were both delighted. A few hours free movement every day
wasn't worth one more life," says O'Rawe.

“The British were compromising on prison uniforms, work,
visits, letters and segregation. Bik wrote to Gerry Adams, accepting the
offer.”

However, the Army Council committee then sent word into the jail
that the offer wasn't enough. On 7 July, the IRA told the British that
while the substance of the proposal was acceptable, the “tone”
needed changing.

Joe McDonnell died the next day. “This fine
“epublican died because an Army Council clique didn't like the 'tone'
of a document,” says O'Rawe. “Five other great men, the bravest
of the brave, followed him.

“The hunger-strikers were Spartacuses.

“They gave everything they had to the republican movement.
They believed to their death in a 32 county socialist republic. This Army
Council committee between them didn't have even an ounce of one
hunger-striker's courage. They were a bunch of immoral, unscrupulous
b*****ds.”

It was later revealed that the Army Council committee never
briefed the entire Army Council itself on the details of the offer.

The hunger-strike had become “a cynical PR exercise to gain
votes”, O'Rawe claims. It had to continue at least until Owen Carron
won the Fermanagh and South Tyrone Westminister by-election in August,
holding Bobby Sands' seat.

The official Provo line has always been that a callous,
uncompromising British government let 10 men die. “That lie's now
exposed,” says O'Rawe. “The hunger-strikers broke Margaret
Thatcher. She blinked first. She gave in but the men weren't told,”


The ex-IRA man says he faced a campaign of vilification since he
began exposing the truth about the hunger-strike: “I was told I could
be shot. My children were harassed. ‘Your da's a liar’, people
shouted at them.

“I was ostracised. Guys I'd operated with in the IRA, some
of my best friends, snubbed me as the leadership spread their lies.”


O'Rawe (57) lives just across the road from Milltown Cemetery on
the Falls where three hunger-strikers are buried.

He often visits the graves of Bobby Sands, Joe McDonnell, and
Kieran Doherty: “It's heart-breaking but I don't need to go there to
remember them because they never leave my mind.” On the 30th
anniversary of the 10 deaths, he still breaks down in tears thinking of his
comrades.

-- Suzanne Breen, Sunday World, December 11, 2011.

15. 1921 Treaty of Surrender on display

THE original Anglo Irish Treaty document of 1921 has been made
available to the public for the first time on December 6 in an online
exhibition marking 90 years to the day since its signing.

The Treaty was signed in the aftermath of the truce which ended
the 1919-1921 War of Independence.

The original document was acquired by the National Archives of
Ireland from the 26-County Department of the Taoiseach in 2002 and has
never before been made available for public consultation, either in its
original form or online.

The inked signatures of all the delegates are visible at the
bottom of the seven-page document, with most of the Irish delegates having
signed as Gaeilge (in Irish).

The signatures on the left of the final page are Arthur Griffith,
Micheál Ó Coileáin (Michael Collins), Riobárd Bartún (Robert Barton),
Eamonn S Ó Dugáin (Eamonn Duggan) and Seoirse Ghabháin Uí Dhubhthaigh
(George Gavan Duffy).

On the British side, the delegates who signed were: David Lloyd
George, Austen Chamberlain, Lord Birkenhead (signed as
‘Birkenhead’), and Winston Churchill, who was chiefly
responsible for the military clauses in the Treaty.

The “Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great
Britain and Ireland” were signed by both delegations at 2.15am on
December 6th, 1921.

British prime minister David Lloyd George had issued an ultimatum
to the Irish delegation, including Collins, that they must either sign the
text of the Treaty as it stood, or face the consequence of an immediate
resumption of war in the event of their refusal to sign.

Collins said on the signing of the document that he had signed
his death warrant. At the time, he believed the Treaty creating of the
Irish Free State would ultimately lead to full independence, but he was
viewed by many as a traitor.

The split over the Treaty and its subsequent narrow ratification
by the Dáil in January 1922 ultimately led to the Civil War of 1922-23.


According to the National Archives, the Anglo-Irish Treaty of
1921 is “probably THE seminal document of the Irish Free State, which
in turn evolved into the Republic of Ireland”.

16. Friday of resistance in Bil'in

IN the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian
people on December 2, 2011, five demonstrators were injured in addition to
the dozens of people who suffered choking from inhaling poison gas in the
village of Bil'in west of Ramallah.

The weekly march was organised by the Popular Committee Against
the Wall and Settlements in Bil'in for the revival of the International Day
of Solidarity with the Palestinian people with the participation of many
national symbols, politburo member of the Democratic Front Qais Abu Leila,
Minister of Social Affairs Magda Almasri, the spokesman for Fatah movement
Ahmed Assaf, a member of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Liberation
Front Hisham Abu Raya, a member of the senior leadership of the Popular
Front-General Command in Palestine D..Shawkat Hammad, the Secretary of the
Democratic Union of Palestinian “Feda” in Ramallah, Kamal
Mohammed Ali, a member of the senior leadership of the movement of the
Palestinian National Initiative, Salah al-Khawaja, many delegations from
all parties and national movements, French and Brazilian delegation, dozens
of Palestinians and international and Israeli peace activists.

The march began after Friday prayers from the center of the
village heading to the land that was liberated a few months ago, where
participants raised Palestinian flags, banners of Palestinian parties,
pictures of the prisoner Hamza Burnat who is a photographer for Friends of
justice and freedom, pictures of the prisoner Ashraf Abu Rahma, banners
painted with the image of the prisoner leader Marwan Barghouti.

The protesters chanted the national slogans which called for the
departure of the occupation and the demolition of the apartheid wall and
also they called on Palestinians to remain faithful to the constants of
Palestine and called for freedom for all prisoners.

Upon the arrival of participants to (Abu Lemon) area, they were
able to remove some of the barbed wire, then the soldiers behind the
concrete wall shot live bullets in the air, rubber bullets, sound grenades,
density of tear gas canisters and they sprayed waste water mixed with
chemicals towards the participants, which led to the wounding of five
people including the journalist Walid Safe from Aljazeera International.
Dozens of citizens and Israeli and international peace activists suffered
cases of severe asphyxia and the car of the press and ambulance crews
who had treated the wounded in the field, were also targeted.

Some of the participants threw stones at the occupation soldiers,
many soldier jeeps chased the demonstrators in the olive groves to the
outskirts of the village.

ENDS


--
Republican Sinn Féin
International Relations Bureau

Sinn Féin Poblachtach Roinn Gnóthaí Idirnáisiúnta

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