Belfast-based Presbyterian minister who called for 'Palestine to be free from the river to the sea' says he wants peaceful co-existence between Jews and Muslims

The UK government among others has repeatedly voiced concerns about the slogan.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman had previously said "that is widely understood as a demand for the destruction of Israel" and that "attempts to pretend otherwise are disingenuous", telling police chiefs to be alert to the phrase.

And just today, Downing Street described the chant as “deeply offensive” to many.

At the Saturday rally, Rev Shaw declared: "Palestine exists! Palestine exists in our hearts, does it not?

"In our thousands and our millions, we are all Palestinians. But not only does Palestine exist in our hearts.

"Palestine exists from the river to the sea. And one day, God willing, Inshallah, Palestine will be free from the river to the sea."

Asked to explain his position today, Rev Shaw told the News Letter he wants "an immediate cessation of the bombardment of Gaza" in the short term, then "a just and sustainable peace settlement that allows the people in that land that share that land already to do so in a just way... and that goes for Israeli Jews as well as Palestinians".

Here are a few of this reporter’s other recent articles on Israel-Palestine and the Northern Irish / Irish reaction to events there – stories you’re unlikely to see anywhere else:

• Israel conflict latest: Northern Irish Jew says 'we tried to warn people about Hamas - they want every last one of us on Earth dead'

• SDLP takes harder line on Israel than Sinn Fein as its councillors line up alongside dissidents to call for Israeli ambassadors to be kicked out

• 'This is the fault of Israel and the superpowers': Leader of one of Northern Ireland's biggest trade unions addresses Palestine rally and quotes Malcolm X

• Palestine activists call off demonstration at Home Bargains saying it has agreed to drop Israeli products from its shelves

• DUP human rights spokesman Jim Shannon MP says Hamas should be 'liquidated' and calls for 'aggressive' police crackdown on signs of support for the group

• Crowd in Londonderry chants 'from the river to the sea Palestine will be free' on the same day that UK government warns police forces to be on lookout for that phrase

• Chapter and verse on the Courtney Carey case: Irish woman posts defiant message and indicates she has a 'strong case' after losing job at global tech firm Wix following comments about Israel

• Flag of group considered to be a terrorist organisation in Europe and America displayed at Glasgow Celtic vs Atletico Madrid match

• Israel-Palestine latest: Nazi SS symbols appear at Northern Ireland protest against Israeli bombing / blockade of Gaza

Rev Shaw is an ordained member of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, though he has not been in charge of a church congregation for some years.

In the past he ministered in west and north Belfast and in Portadown.

Originally from the loyalist Sandy Row area of the city, and now aged in his late 60s, today Rev Shaw runs the 174 Trust in north Belfast.

"The river to the sea" is often taken to mean the entirety of historic Palestine, spanning from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean and encompassing the whole modern state of Israel.

"Regardless of what the Home Secretary or anyone else says, I know what I meant by it," Rev Shaw told the News Letter.

"I long for peace there between the two peoples, but it has to be a just peace.

"When I say 'from the river to the sea', from the river to the sea is already a geographical reference to Palestine, from the River Jordan at the West Bank to the people of Gaza on the Mediterranean.

"Palestine, the Palestinian territories exist from the river to the sea.

"And when I say I long for it to be free, I mean at the very basic level and fundamentally free from military occupation, free from harassment by the Israeli state and the Israeli army and Israeli settlers, the Palestinian people free to be able to move without their movements being restricted by barriers and walls…

"Palestinian and Israeli, Muslim, Jews, Christians, can share the land."

Does he want to see a two-state solution?

Rev Shaw said he would rather a Palestinian answer that, but added: "From what I know and people I've talked to and listened to on a daily basis, I don't think there are very many Palestinians who have any faith in the two-state solution and Oslo Accords [which were meant to establish them]. I think that was dead in the water."

What is the alternative?

"In my reading, it's one single democratic state where equal rights are guaranteed to people of all religions and all ethnicities and all have an equal stake in that state, whatever that state's going to be called, where the human rights of Palestinians are safeguarded."

Wouldn't that mean getting rid of the Jewish state of Israel and replacing it with a combined Israeli-Palestinian state?

"A combined state where everyone in that region can live safely first of all, and where peace and human rights are accepted and protected."

The Rev Shaw was also asked why he had used the expression "inshallah" (God willing), a common Muslim invocation, during his address on Saturday.

"It's also a Palestinian Christian one as well," he said.

"It is 'by God's grace'... it is not a Muslim phrase, it's an Arabic phrase."

The trust Rev runs is in charge of the Duncairn community centre which itself runs a nursery project, hosts English classes for migrants, and other activities.

Rev Shaw is also a director of PIPS, an anti-suicide charity.

He said that he disagreed with the church on "LGBTQ" rights and on women as ministers.

Rev Shaw told the News Letter that a visit to Israel/Palestine in 2013 is what turned him into an "activist" on the subject.

He had visited Ashkelon, later one of the sites of the "horrendous" Hamas massacre of October 7, but had been denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government, which has long tightly controlled entry and exit from the territory.

The News Letter asked the Presbyterian Church in Ireland about his comments.

It replied: "The Rev Bill Shaw, while having the status of a minister without charge in PCI, has not been in active ministry within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland since 1997.

"Mr Shaw works as an employee of the 174 Trust and it is therefore to the trustees and management committee of that body that he is first and foremost accountable."