Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have had the opportunity to visit both Palestine and Israel on several occasions, most recently during last September. I am a member of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. The committee has met many delegations from Israel and Palestine, including those from civil society, academics, religious leaders and political leaders. The one thing that came across on every occasion was the overwhelming desire of Palestinians and Israelis to be able to live in peace as well as the need for compromise.

When we look back to the past and the Oslo Accords, we can see the potential for peace, but those initiatives came to nothing except assassinations and intifada. The Geneva accord and the initiatives in 2003 and 2009 illustrate the comprehensive solution that could have been brought into being. There was mutual recognition of both nations, the right to an independent state on both sides, and an almost complete Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders. There was recognition of a Jewish Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and an Arab Jerusalem as the capital for Palestine. There was significant support. In Palestine, support was 49%, and in Israel, support was 52% for that agreement. There was considerable opposition too. Despite this, there are non-governmental organisations on the Israeli and Palestinian sides which continue to work in an atmosphere with the belief that they can bring about some kind of compromise. I wish to acknowledge the work of the NGOs, especially in Israel and Palestine, working on human rights and justice. I was at the launch of a book on their work recently entitled Defending Hope. Those involved speak about the great difficulties under which they are working together to try to find a just peace.

We know that the roots of this come from imperialism, first the Ottoman empire and then the British empire, which gave away the homes of the Palestinians. We know the emotional, religious and cultural attachment of the Jewish people as well. The question is whether conflict was inevitable. Once 1948 came and 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and villages, there was always going to be conflict. We saw the movement of Palestinians. It did not stop then and it is not going to stop today. Having been there, I know there is no doubt about the devastating and disastrous consequences of continued settlement building. It makes life virtually impossible for Palestinians and it is certainly erodes their dignity as people.

Let us consider the wall. The Palestinians start queuing from the middle of the night, from 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. They are herded like cattle. They cross over into Israel to work in and contribute to the Israeli economy. Then they start the journey back in the evening. Journeys that used to take ten or 15 minutes now take over an hour. Things like that make life so very difficult. Palestinians remember how they used to be able to visit their relatives and friends in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. Israelis talk about how they used to bring their families into Gaza to the beaches and the markets there.

What always strikes me is the great resilience of the Palestinian people in cities like Ramallah and Nablus. They go to school and college. They are getting on with life and with their businesses in the midst of all of it.

I have serious criticisms of both governments because both governments have let down all their people. I have criticisms of the UN. We see the whole dysfunction of the UN Security Council and the use of the veto by America. Representations should be made to the Americans on this. We do not have an ambassador here but there is certainly one in the UK.

Israel has a right to protect its borders but the force we have seen is totally and utterly over the top. The role of the EU has been as ineffective as the role of the UN. The support for a two-state solution is like a facade. At the same time, it is like the EU is appeasing its conscience by giving funding to Palestine. It buys from and sells arms to the Israeli arms industry, which is bombing the buildings that EU funding is constructing. Israel must be made accountable for its violations of international law and human rights. Palestine also needs elections. A serious error was made when Israel did not recognise the results of the last election. Hamas representatives were elected but that was a democratic process and it needed a peaceful transition to power. So much of what we are seeing today could have been avoided.

There is also a need for honesty with the whole business of the two-state solution. How can it be viable? It is like suggesting putting two counties from Leinster with two counties from Munster, one from Connacht and one from Ulster and calling it a state. There has to be honesty. Perhaps the honesty can come about from discussing a one-state solution whereby the Palestine people would have exactly the same rights as those in Israel, including the same rights to services, infrastructure, education and healthcare.

A Palestinian academic made a point. He said the West Bank is an open prison but that Gaza is like a high-security prison. We know the statistics and the number of people who are living there. Some 1.7 million or 1.8 million people are living an area the size of County Dublin. The fishing industry is a source of food and the source of livelihood for these people but it is constantly being pushed back in again.

Two other groups always get lost in this kind of discussion. The first is the Bedouin and their right to the kind of life they live. The second group is made up of the residents in the Golan Heights. They are frequently forgotten about in all of this.

We have to start somewhere. What is happening now has pushed everything back. We know there are families and communities in Gaza who are grieving horribly. I came across a line from a Michael Longley poem I used to discuss in school called Ceasefire:

I get down on my knees and do what must be done

And kiss Achilles' hand, the killer of my son.

Something has to be done now. It is time to get back to the table to talk, listen, compromise and reach a consensus. We have the example of the Good Friday Agreement.

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