Why the Irish Empathise With Palestine
And why they, you and I probably shouldn’t
In the middle of the sixteenth century the English government decided to ‘plant’ English settlers in Ireland. The reasons were complex but certainly included the perceived need to expand the reach of the new Protestant religion beyond England’s shores. But it was also about reasserting the superiority of the Anglo-Normans who invaded the island 400 years earlier. And those Anglo-Normans were the descendents of the people who invaded England from Northern France a hundred years before that, and conquered it.
I use ‘England’ and ‘English’ rather than ‘Britain’ and ‘British’ in this context because Britain did not exist yet: England was still at war with Scotland at the time.
England’s ability to govern the island was frustrated. The governing families were confined to an area on the East coast known as ‘The Pale’. It was thought that by taking land from its current owners and giving it to English families the influence of the old Gaelic clans could be diluted.
The policy didn’t work then, nor did it work when it was expanded over the next couple of centuries and included the settling of large numbers of England’s old enemies from Scotland. It just led to many more years of conflict: the burning of crops and homes by both sides…