Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion. The political situation to which it relates is perhaps the most distressing and tragic in the entire world. There are other conflicts in which more people are being killed but, in fundamental terms, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is more distressing than any of these. On one hand we have the Israeli-Jewish people who probably have a longer history of being discriminated against and appallingly treated than any other group. This has been their lot down through the ages. I once heard a member of the Jewish community list the intolerable difficulties the Jewish people have been obliged to endure since the time of Abraham. I have no doubt as to the truth of what I heard, particularly when I contemplate the horrors visited upon Jews during the Second World War. That was just the last in a long series of outrages perpetrated against them. The Jews were a people without a homeland. They then found a homeland in Israel but when they did so, they deprived the Palestinian people of theirs. This was a catastrophe for the Palestinians in the same way as what happened in the Second World War was a catastrophe for the Jewish people.

The problem which arises relates to how to resolve this terrible dispute. I absolutely abhor the violence being perpetrated by those on both sides in the conflict and I wish for a peaceful solution to be found. Not a day goes by without some further problem arising in the region. Today, for example, a Palestinian Cabinet Minister, Mr. Ziad Abu Ain, was killed when attending a protest relating to land confiscations, a matter which lies at the very heart of the problem. I take this opportunity to offer my condolences to the family of Ziad Abu Ain. The problem to which I refer is being exacerbated by the Israelis' creeping annexation of Palestinian territory and their increasingly discriminatory approach to Palestinians. We are all aware of the problems behaviour of this nature caused in our own country.

I am extremely frustrated by the situation which is the subject of this motion. For the long-term good of both the Palestinians and the Israelis, the EU must impose economic sanctions on the State of Israel. Such sanctions should not be lifted until such time as the authorities in Israel engage in meaningful dialogue with the Palestinians.

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