Dáil debates

Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Annexation of Palestine: Motion [Private Members]

 

7:05 pm

Photo of Mairead FarrellMairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps there is no other western country in the world whose people feel the same sense of solidarity with the Palestinian people quite as do the people of Ireland. As we watch in horror as bombs are dropped on Palestinian homes, hospitals and media outlets, we feel their pain and critically, we know that as Irish people we have a duty to shout "Stop". As Irish people we do not have the luxury to pretend we do not know or understand. We have a duty to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and call the Israeli actions out for what they are, and that is apartheid. We have seen the continued Israeli settlement expansion, the forced expulsions and the refusal to grant the right of return to Palestinian refugees. Israel says it wants peace. It says it wants a viable two-state solution but actions speak louder than words and, by God, are its actions loud. It continues to place its heavily fortified settlements on Palestinian land. It has divided up the West Bank into Bantustans with military checkpoints. It consistently lays siege to Gaza and it does all of this under the pretext of self-defence. Palestine is the tragedy of our time. The peace activist Hanan Ashwari has said that the absence of international sanctions has enabled the creation of a horror in Gaza. It is a living horror and yet prominent politicians across the world engage in bad-faith false equivalence. They use language around this conflict that is designed to obscure what is going on. They talk about Israel’s right to security. Israel is a nuclear power with the fourth largest standing army in the world. What about Palestine’s right to security? In Gaza, only one in ten people has direct access to clean water. We have seen the horrific bombings. Does that look like a secure existence? We hear talk in the media of clashes and ceasefires, which creates the false impression that this is a conflict between equal forces. It is anything but. It is a struggle between a coloniser and the oppressed. It is a struggle for self-determination versus a harsh and brutal system of apartheid. This July will mark 37 years since Dunnes Stores workers here in Ireland stood against apartheid. Let Ireland once again stand up to an apartheid regime and pass this motion.

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