*Tomás Mac Conmara. Photograph: Eamon Ward
A TREE planting ceremony will take place in Tuamgraney as the East Clare Memorial Committee join forces with East Clare for Palestine.
To show solidarity with the people of Palestine, the tree planting ceremony will take place on July 28th at the East Clare Memorial Park in Tuamgraney, a site that remembers the struggle for Irish independence in East Clare. Officially dedicated as the Republican Memorial Park in 1954, this year marks the 70th anniversary of the park.
Beginning at 2pm, the event will begin at 2pm will include poetry readings, a performance by the Éisteacht choir who have recently been invited to perform at Electric Picnic, as well as speeches and refreshments.
Secretary of the East Clare Memorial Committee, Dr Tomás Mac Conmara explained that the occasion represented an opportunity to express unity with those fighting for freedom in different parts of the world. “The Palestinian struggle for freedom is inextricably connected with that of Ireland. When in 1917, East Clare and the rest of Ireland was buzzing with separatist sentiment, the Balfour Declaration in Britain promised the land of Palestine to the Zionist project. In the late 1940s when the East Clare Memorial Park was being planned to commemorate our liberation struggle, Palestinians were being driven off their land by those same Zionists to create the State of Israel. As we reflect on seventy years of remembering in Tuamgraney, we felt it only appropriate to express our solidarity with Palestine and in deference to the Palestinians who have been welcomed into east Clare since the recent genocide has been happening”.
Carol McNamara proposed the idea of a ceremonial tree planting. She outlined why, “Since the genocide in Gaza started in October 2023, several people in East Clare came together in unison with the thousands across Clare and Ireland to try and form a civic response to what was happening. We have held multiple public events, fundraisers, protests and demonstrations, including weekly vigils at Killaloe Bridge in solidarity with Palestine. We have been struck by the positivity we have received from the public in East Clare, but it is vital for us to continue in our solidarity as the public focus has shifted of late, despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza”.
She added, “The Awwad family have become an important part of our community in East Clare since they fled their bombed out home in Gaza city in October and eventually found refuge in Scariff . We were all heartbroken when news came through of the murder of a further thirty members of their family in Gaza, killed in an Israeli airstrike on June 25th. It is impossible to comprehend their loss, but we felt we needed to show our solidarity and love in some way”.
Indeed it will be a member of the Awwad family that will perform the tree planting ceremony which is to begin at 2pm on Sunday July 28th.
