Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It has gone too far when politicians say that there will never be a peace brokered between these two regions. It has gone too far when it is said that the only thing to do is to kill them. That is not the talk or the debate of democrats who are prepared to take on challenges and sit down and work things through. The Prime Minister is well aware that in our country, with 30 years of troubles and terrorist activities and 3,000 people killed, maimed, blown up and disappeared, it was eventually possible with a lot of help for people to be able to sit down and work out a situation so that people could get on with their lives. It is much more complex in many ways between Gaza and between Palestine and Israel, but one cannot have a situation where that kind of violent language and that kind of threatening language is used behind a screen of pandering to the opportunity that presents itself of actually having peace.

These two things are not compatible. If we go back to the late 1940s and accept a two-state solution as the way forward, if that is the foundation on which to build, then one does not say the only thing to do is to kill people. Clearly, there are responsibilities on both sides in terms of the preservation of human life but at the same time there must be a focus on what one wants to do and work towards it. It is not easy and it will not be accomplished in any short term. I do not know how many more governments will come and go. However, if one believes in peace, then one must demonstrate a willingness to work for it. What I saw for myself in Gaza a number of years ago is certainly not very encouraging. In so far as we can help through the European Union and the work of the high representative and the governments, we must focus on this particular problem which is off-track since March last year and exacerbated now by the many other problems in the region where extreme violence has become evident in recent times. It is altogether a very sad affair.

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