Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At present, the world is a very dangerous place. There is a serious risk this could escalate further beyond the regional dispute we see in the Middle East.

I know people may say it was a dangerous place 50 years ago or 100 years ago or further back, but in fact when we look at what is happening now, there seems to be an inability on the part of people to recognise that we have to share the planet together. What has also had a significant impact and differentiates this and current disputes from historical disputes is that we now have vast and immediate communication. Every person is aware fairly immediately of outrages that have taken place in certain parts of the world. Previously, these were regional disputes that remained in the regions and did not spread with such alarm around the world. In part that is the reason there was so much outrage at the massacre perpetrated by Hamas on the people of southern Israel on 7 October last. That was a massacre that was not done in the name of the Palestinian people. In fact, it was very damaging to the cause and the interests of the Palestinian people. I was pleased to hear President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority confirm that Hamas did not represent the Palestinian people or the Palestinian cause.

We also must recognise, however, that the reason for the outrage that is spreading is because everyone can see the excessive response Israel is perpetrating upon the innocent people who are living in Gaza. We can see, and the world can see, that the excessive response by blocking off food, electricity and water is a breach of international humanitarian law. It is a breach of what people recognise as being right. Although Israel may say it is not its intention to target civilians, by bombing an area of that density, the effect of its actions is that civilians will be bombed, severely injured and killed. This ultimately is a political problem that requires a political solution. There are extremes that will never be satisfied. Hamas will never be satisfied by a political solution. As politicians in Ireland, we must inform leaders around the world that the only way this problem will be resolved is through a political resolution. Unfortunately, one way of ensuring we do not get a political resolution is if in the world we decide to divide ourselves into teams. We will have the Israeli team. We will have the Palestinian team. One thing Ireland can do is bring a balanced approach to this and use and exercise our faculties to bring about a recognition of what needs to be the solution. We need brave politicians to manifest themselves and to appear in Palestine and in Israel. We all know in this House what a brave politician is. A brave politician is a politician who says something they know is right but is not supported by the people who support them. We have had brave politicians in Ireland in the past. It is extremely difficult and it is much more difficult out in the Middle East, but it is a requirement that we get politicians in Palestine, in Israel and around the world to recognise that there is a greater peace that can be achieved through resolution and through settlement.

In the short term, we need, as others in this House have stated, a humanitarian ceasefire. We need all hostages to be released. We need Israel to ensure food, water and electricity gets back into Gaza. Once we do those short-term preliminary measures, there is then an obligation on global and regional powers to ensure the people in those countries and their political leaders recognise that this problem will never be resolved unless there is a political system the majority of people buy into. We will never get the extremes, and the political solution must be a two-state solution.

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