Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

On Sunday, 15 May there were apparently co-ordinated demonstrations to mark Naqba Day by Palestinians and others in the Occupied Territories and neighbouring countries. On the Lebanese and Syrian borders with Israel and the occupied Golan, groups of some hundreds broke away from larger demonstrations and tried to break through the Israeli border fences. Israeli forces opened fire and 14 demonstrators were killed, ten from Lebanon and four from Syria. There were other incidents on the borders of the West Bank and Gaza and at the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

It is clearly a matter of concern where numbers of demonstrators are killed in circumstances like this and I would, on the face of it, agree with the Deputy that this action seems heavy handed. Demonstrations should not end up in deaths and this applies both to security forces and those organising the demonstrations. Frankly, however, we have no clear picture of what took place, in particular where or why troops opened fire. In Lebanon, UN troops were on the scene and will be submitting a report on what happened. It is also true to say that in Lebanon and certainly in Syria, it would normally be very difficult for such large numbers of demonstrators to make it to the border, which is a very sensitive military zone, and there must be a suspicion that some people may have been deliberately encouraging a confrontation with Israel.

I entirely sympathise with the deep frustration of Palestinians who feel that history is moving all around them in the Middle East while their plight remains unresolved but clearly trying to storm a tense and sensitive military border which has been the site of numerous deadly attacks is very unwise and risks further tragedies and I am also concerned about those who perhaps cynically misdirect the frustrations of ordinary demonstrators in this way.

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