Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a great honour to speak on this important motion. As an Irish republican I am always mindful that we as a nation once stood before the world and demanded the recognition that had up until then been denied to us. The 1916 Proclamation called for our exaltation among the nations. In the Declaration of Independence we claimed for ourselves the recognition of the world that we were an independent and sovereign nation. We sought and in more and more cases were granted the support and recognition of the world for our people, our place and our sovereignty.

That is what the Palestinians want and is what the motion is about. The news that the Government will not stand in its way is exciting. We are returning the favour of that recognition granted by our earliest allies and supporting the right of a small nation to be free.

Some would paint support for the cause of the Palestinian people to have a homeland as an attack on the people of Israel, but it is not black and white. The absence of a Palestinian state is in reality only in the interest of warmongers and zealots. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, once described the efforts of his people as not a campaign aimed at isolating Israel or delegitimising it, but one that sought simply to gain legitimacy for the cause of the people of Palestine. We only aim to delegitimise the settlement activities and the occupation, the apartheid and the logic of ruthless force. We believe that all the countries of the world stand with us in this regard.

The state of Palestine is legitimate. The cause of the Palestinian people and the Israeli people to live in their homeland as equals, free from violence and bigotry, is legitimate. However, as President Abbas rightly states, the actions of the Israeli state in oppressing his people and state is not legitimate. The settlements which are still being built illegally on Palestinian land while an apartheid wall carves up the West Bank are not legitimate. Suggesting this is a conflict of equals is absurd and it is not legitimate to claim the shelling of children playing football on a beach is justified for defence.

Supporting the motion will not change all these things, but it is an important sign to the people of the Middle East that there is hope that Palestine will one day soon be free and the conflict will end because the rest of the world might soon stop making excuses for slaughter and oppression. Tomorrow by passing the motion, we will join the majority of UN members by supporting the state of Palestine and recognising its right as a nation. It would be an almost imperceptible change for Ireland, but would mean a great deal for the Palestinian people and weaken further all those who wish to see the status quo continue and nothing to change in the Middle East.

It is also a very important step in reclaiming our dignity on the issue. Up to now the Government had seemed increasingly unwilling to be a voice for peace and justice in Palestine and Gaza in particular. Ireland recently abstained from a UN vote to condemn the war crimes committed in the shelling of Gaza during the summer. We shamed ourselves that day, refusing to stand on our feet and making excuses by referring the decision to the EU as a whole.

We then failed to support the call for Israel to sign up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that Ireland had championed. This was pure weakness. We utterly failed to be the strong voice for justice. We like to believe we are on the international stage. This week we are turning the tide on that shameful episode. We should see it as a new dawn for our State as an ally of all those who are oppressed and denied peace and freedom - otherwise we will have learned nothing from our own struggles and the generosity of those who stood with us. We must take this step and must work to promote the state of Palestine across the world and especially in those countries that continue to fail to stand up to the injustices of Israel's brutal apartheid and demand a free and sovereign Palestinian state.

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