Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are all united in our opinion that what was happening in Palestine, and Gaza in particular, had to stop. We all welcomed the ceasefire announced last week, but how many ceasefires have there been over the 54 years of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory? How long will this ceasefire last before Israel starts stealing Palestinian land again, while continuing to commit war crimes and forcing the Palestinian people to continue to live in absolutely dreadful conditions?

A statement from the Government condemning Israel's abuse of Palestinians is not enough. Statements such as these have done nothing to stop continued abuse by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people. Over the past 54 years Israel has continually committed war crimes with no fear of consequences because it has never had to face any. Ireland is part of the EU and the UN. Why are these organisations not doing more to stop this cycle of violence and annexation and to put in place a workable peace process?

There needs to be a permanent end to the violence for the people of Palestine, regardless of which part they live in. They need to be able to live in peace without fear of indiscriminate bombing and shooting. The International Criminal Court must investigate the actions of Israel and investigate it for war crimes. All people in the region deserve to be able to live in peace without the fear of death or serious injury. The violence must end forever.

There are over 5 million Palestinian people living in an area which has no proper access to clean water, sewerage systems or energy supplies. They fear on a daily basis that their homes will either be demolished by a bomb or missile coming from Israel or that they will be evicted from their homes and have them taken away.

People in Ireland sympathise and understand what the Palestinian people are experiencing as the Northern part of our country experienced similar for many years when innocent people, such as those in Ballymurphy, were shot down without consequence. It took almost 40 years for those people to be declared innocent. We had Bloody Sunday in Derry and shoot-to-kill policies. We know and understand what it is like in this country. It needs to end and the needs to be a proper peace process put in place. If action is not taken now, we will continue to see the cycle of violence, ceasefires being called, everything going quiet for a while and then everything resuming again. It is time that we in the Dáil stood together by passing an all-party motion condemning the actions of Israel and supporting the calls for a Palestinian state.

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