While reading a travel column about a trip to Jerusalem I REad that Irish is spoken in a main square by traders.Apparently irish merchants had come into contact with these traders relations a few centuries ago.
Seems unlikely. Cár léigh tú é? Sometimes a word or phrase or two of a language sticks, the way we often say 'gesundheit' in the U.S. when someone sneezes. Maybe these Palestinian traders just know a couple of phrases that they know please Irish tourists and pilgrims.