Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan.

When the Taoiseach goes to Europe I would like him to use his time there to defend the Palestinians who are at the mercy of Israeli military forces on a daily basis. There has been much talk for a long time about the two state solution but that solution is actually dead now. Its death began in 1967 when the Israelis took over so much of the Palestinian land. After the Palestinian elections took place in 2006, which were fair and were monitored by UN bodies, the US and Israel, supported by Europe, refused to recognise the result because they did not like the fact that Hamas had actually won. They decided to support the Palestinian Authority. Sadly, the Palestinian Authority is now part of the problem rather than the solution. The authority has been armed and trained by the Israelis and the Americans and its main task is to control the Palestinian people.

The two state solution never offered much to the Palestinians, even when there was a slim prospect of it happening. It offered nothing to the huge number of Palestinians living in Israel under an apartheid system. They have no human rights and there is no justice for Palestinians living in Israel. The two state solution offered nothing for the more than 2 million Palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan either.

The European take on Palestine and Israel is really important. The US has had no problem with supporting Israel's attempts at genocide in Gaza in recent years but the EU could play a positive role. However, when the EU refused to recognise the results of the 2006 election, it removed the pressure on Israel to stop building settlements. It also gave Israel carte blancheto continue building its wall and it ended any possibility of a genuinely independent Palestinian state. That is not feasible anymore. It is not socially, economically or geographically feasible any more. That possibility is now gone and we must face up to that. What does that mean? Where are we going now? We are heading for a one state solution and what we want is a state where Israelis and Palestinians live together on equal terms; a state where there are human rights, civil rights and democracy for all. Of course, that would mean an end to the Zionist dream of the Jewish state which is currently operating in Israel.

We pay lip service in this country to caring about Palestinians. If we really cared about them we would not allow Israel to do what it does. We would be a very strong voice in Europe, trying to get Europe to change its position on Palestine. Two weeks ago myself and Deputy Clare Daly were invited to Iran to speak at a conference on Palestine which was attended by representatives from 80 countries, mostly in Asia and Africa.

An opinion poll within Palestine between the West Bank and Gaza indicated that two thirds of Palestinians now realise that the two-state solution is not possible and they want a one-state solution where they will get equal rights and justice because they are a long way from it at the moment. One of the biggest disgraces of the past 50 years has been how Europe has allowed Israel to engage in crimes against humanity and genocide against the people of Palestine. It is horrific. It is very disappointing that our Government is not taking a strong position on it. We have no problem doing business with the Saudis who probably cut off more heads in a month than ISIS does. Ireland used to be a neutral country until we allowed Shannon Airport to be used to bomb the living daylights out of so many homes in the region. We used to be proud to be a neutral country, but it is gone.

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