MINISTER FOR Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has said the Government will “continue to urge” Israel to lift a travel ban on a Palestinian human rights activist who was due to receive an award at NUI Galway tonight.
The Israeli embassy in Dublin has accused the university’s Irish Centre for Human Rights of honouring a “senior activist in a Palestinian terror organisation” – a claim denied by the centre.
Shawan Jabarin, director of the Palestinian non-governmental organisation Al-Haq, was Amnesty International’s first Palestinian prisoner of conscience. He has been nominated for a “distinguished graduate award” as part of the centre’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
He was prevented by the Israeli authorities from leaving the West Bank to travel to Ireland for the award ceremony tonight.
Mr Jabarin spent a year at the centre in 2004 and 2005, where he studied international human rights law. He was subject to a travel ban in March 2006.
Previously, he had been imprisoned and tortured. His case has been highlighted by former US president Jimmy Carter, Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen and Front Line, the human rights defenders organisation.
The Israeli embassy in Dublin said this week that the centre had “failed to note” that the case of Mr Jabarin was appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice, where it was clearly ascertained that Mr Jabarin “is a senior activist in the ‘Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine’ terrorist organisation”.
The embassy said his travel abroad would “pose a real security threat to citizens of Israel”.
“It is sad that such a man, pretending to be a ‘peace activist’ . . . is chosen to be rewarded,” the embassy said.
Responding to a written question on the issue in the Dáil yesterday evening, Mr Martin said Al- Haq was an important and respected human rights organisation which was supported by Irish Aid.
“Through our mission in Ramallah, my department has regular contacts with Al-Haq and with Mr Jabarin personally,” he said.
