
While there is no mistaking the happiness on the faces of the displaced Palestinians who have been allowed to return to what remains of their homes as a result of the ceasefire, no sympathetic observer could fail to fear for their futures. At least one young woman on the march has been killed by a drone.
Television images of a huge wave of Palestinians made refugees in their own land remind us that there have been many such desperate human surges. Often these have been retreating armies or forces of occupation, particularly British, French and German. There is, however, a closer parallel.
A correspondent in Ireland sent me an interesting email in 2020. It said, inter alia:
‘There is a strong connection between Ireland and the Choctaw and just this week the Hopi and Navajo peoples were seeking funds to combat the Covid virus threat and were very surprised by the response from Ireland, until it was explained to them about the old history with the Choctaw.
“The Choctaw lived originally East of the Mississippi and had assisted a General Jackson in the war against Britain in 1812 (Large applause from here for the Choctaw). Jackson was Scots-Irish Presbyterian who became President in 1829 and then proceeded to pass the Indian Removal Act 1830 which would evict the Choctaw and other tribes from their traditional land to the West Oklahoma/Dakota.”
This is called how to thank your friends who have helped you in battle. So the forced eviction took place about 1838. Some 20,000-30,000 Choctaw were displaced and some estimates claim that up to 50% died from exposure, malnutrition and disease. It was not a summer-time trip! One newspaper called the journey, ‘the trail of tears’.
Two Irishmen in the US army, brothers Frank and William Armstrong became heroes with the tribe for all they did to help. This was some compensation at least.
In the height of the Irish famine, 1847, about 200 starving tenants in Mayo in the West of Ireland, walked 10/15 miles to their landlord’s residence to beg for food. But he refused to meet them and so they had to make their way home again by the side of a lake, weak and emaciated. When a storm arose a significant number were blown into the lake and died.
That story was published in an American paper, with some reference to the ‘trail of tears’.
When the Choctaw heard about this they collected from the ‘nothing’ which they had, some $147 for the Irish famine.
And so the connection was made. President Mary Robinson visited them as did Taoiseach Leo Veradker about two years ago and there is now a scholarship for Choctaw students to study in Ireland. A public sculpture dedicated to the connection between the two peoples was opened in Cork a few years ago. There is a common humanity which connects us: they are a marvellous people.
This same correspondent said that during his earlier term as POTUS Mr Trump proudly displayed a picture of President Jackson – his role model. With Trump’s heartless call to depopulate Gaza, the parallel with the trail of tears becomes stronger. Whether the rumours about a carpet bagging family member wanting to build a seaside resort there are true or not, they certainly suit the image. Always, the powerful selfishly seek financial advantage. They pour state resources into armaments and then expect to extract personal reward.
Since it supported in 1980 the first resolution calling for Palestinian statehood, Ireland has been an advocate for human rights in Gaza and the West Bank. They should know they are doing something right when President Higgins was accused of politicising Auschwitz commemorations when he dared to ‘mention the war’.
Where does the Australian government stand now on its earlier rhetoric about a two-state solution? Where does it stand on the reconstruction of Palestine? Where does it stand on pursuing the perpetrators of human rights abuses since October 2023? Where does it stand on Trump’s call for the emptying of Palestine, which is after all an extension of US support for Israel? What will it do to prevent the march of Palestinians returning to their homes becoming another ‘trail of tears’?