A distant conflict resonates in Northern Ireland
Catholics and Protestants have strong views about Israel and Palestine
VISITORS to Northern Ireland need not venture far to discover that local people have strong views about another, even bloodier zone of conflict. In Catholic and Irish-nationalist parts of Belfast murals lament the sufferings of civilians in Gaza and proclaim support for hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners. In Protestant areas the Israeli flag is a common sight. One much-vandalised mural celebrates Colonel John Patterson, an Irish Protestant officer in the British army and ardent Zionist who commanded a Jewish legion in the first world war. Until a couple of years ago, a plaque in a tense part of north Belfast marked the boyhood home of Chaim Herzog, the late Israeli president whose accent recalled his native city. It was so regularly defaced that it was taken down.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Proxy wars”
Britain August 5th 2017
- A little-noticed change in Britain’s housing market spells trouble for everybody
- Housing is a growing political problem for the Conservatives
- Businesses are preparing for the worst version of Brexit
- Foreign investors are still betting on London’s property market
- Universities’ main pension pot faces the biggest deficit of any British fund
- Thousands of Ahmadis meet in rural Hampshire
- A distant conflict resonates in Northern Ireland
- Britain is a pioneer when it comes to social-impact bonds
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