The Historical Connection between Ireland and Palestine

In 1879, Mitchell's Town Massacre in Cork, Ireland, marked an event where peaceful protesters demanding fair rent were shot by British forces. At the forefront of this tragedy was Arthur Balfour, who later played a significant role in the colonization of Palestine through the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 and the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The British engineered the creation of mandatory Palestine, bringing in Jewish colonizers and implementing violent collective punishment against Palestinian Arabs. The Black and Tans, a notorious British force from Ireland, were dispatched to Palestine to suppress Arab resistance and establish a loyal Jewish presence. These historical events demonstrate the parallel experiences of colonization and violence inflicted by the same architects between Ireland and Palestine.