Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

It is an outrageous situation - I struggle to find words to do justice to it. The 1.5 million people of Gaza are living in an open-air prison. The international community has stood idly by, with the exception of some honourable people in the NGOs and the United Nations. The people of Gaza have been abandoned to a regime that borders on international terrorism in that Israel is almost a rogue state - that is the reality. Peace activists from around the world, in the absence of actions by their Governments, are trying to bring in vital assistance to these people in an inspirational fashion, despite ten of those activists being murdered in the last effort.

Despite that action, there has been a failure of the international community to respond and to be consistent in its approach to states that behave in this fashion. As Governments will not intervene, there is now a scenario whereby good peace activists, who try to do their bit peacefully, are prevented from doing so. What hope do they have if some Governments, first, will not stand up and condemn Israel solely for its actions, second, will not intervene in any shape or form, and, third, advise those good peace activists who want to do something about this that they should not intervene? They have been utterly abandoned.

How is it we cannot assist the beleaguered, imprisoned people of Gaza in some way? What hope can we give them? What leadership can be given by the Irish Government, which is respected internationally in regard to human rights? We must deal with this issue.

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