Saoirse Irish Kufiya

It is during the bleakest experiences of occupation and apartheid, that we Palestinians seek hope wherever it may reside, and in doing so, find ourselves truly lucky to have friends of the Irish kind. One look at the picture of an Irish township decorating every street and pub with a Palestinian flag beside their own… it is the kind of defiant support of one’s fellow man, that can nurture that “glass-half-full” Palestinian spirit we are so deeply inspired by, and so frequently survive on.

To this day, the Irish people are the most outspoken European defenders of the Palestinian right to liberty and self-determination, and the spiritual connection between two geographically distant and unexpected allies is no accident. For the memory and consequence of colonization lives in the very marrow of every Irish bone.

Undoubtedly, the people of Ireland have set a course for other countries to follow suit. For countries around the world to take that stand against the apartheid system that Israel perpetrates, and stand by the right to liberty for all; the sacred right to determine one’s own destiny. To our friends of Eire, we dedicate the Saoirse Kufiya to you, devoted to “liberty” and “freedom” in the Irish Language.