Sanctions against Israel and a boycott of Israeli goods were urged by several speakers at a weekend protest in Dublin which called for the Israeli army to withdraw from the Palestinian territories.
The demonstration attracted a crowd of some 500 people, making it one of the largest to be held in the capital on a foreign policy issue in recent years.
About half the participants were members of the Palestinian and Muslim communities. Placards carried slogans such as "End the occupation"; "Stop US-Israeli terror"; "Victory to the Intifada"; "Stop the Palestinian holocaust" and "Jerusalem: Forever beloved, forever Palestinian".
Marchers chanted "Freedom for President Arafat"; "Down, down USA"; and "Long live Palestine". Several banners featured emblems equating the Nazi swastika with the Star of David.
Green Party TD Mr John Gormley said there was "a type of apartheid" in operation against Palestinians. Sanctions had been imposed on Iraq and children were dying.
"If you can impose sanctions on Iraq for breaking UN resolutions, why not impose sanctions on Israel because they have broken UN resolutions time after time?" He called on the Government to "get off the fence".
Ms Ronit Lentin, an Israeli peace activist living in Dublin, said there was "huge opposition" in Israel to what was going on.
She claimed Israeli soldiers were "going into Palestinian homes and stealing jewellery, stealing money, stealing food" and that they had stolen food from a supermarket in Ramallah.
Ms Lentin called for international unity "to demand the Israeli army to withdraw from the territories now, stop the killing now, and allow an international UN-backed observer force to go into the territories as the first measure to bring about change, to bring about the end of the appalling situation as it stands".
The Palestinian delegate-general in Ireland, Mr Ali Halimeh, said the Israeli army hoped it could destroy the will of the Palestinian people. "There is no power in this earth which could prevent the Palestinians from achieving their freedom and independence."
Sheikh Hussain Haloua, Imam of the Muslim community in Dublin, speaking in Arabic, said the "barbaric" actions of the Sharon government in a land of three great religions should not be tolerated.
He called on the international community to intervene and assist the Palestinians to achieve their aspirations and he thanked the Government for its support for the Palestinian people.
The demonstration was organised by the Alliance for Palestine with the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign.