Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Sinn Féin Party on tabling this motion and providing the time for this House to debate one of the most important moral issues the world has to face.

Labour Party Deputies are very proud to co-sign and support this motion. It has been worked on for some time, with the support of a number of external groups. The focus of the motion in recent weeks has been on the systematic undermining, if not the shattering, of the basis of a two-state solution to the generations of conflict and violence which have occurred between Israel and Palestine, the Israelis and the Palestinians.

We in Ireland know full well that peace can only be brought about when an acceptable situation is negotiated, embraced and agreed for both parties involved. Lasting sustainable peace cannot be achieved through repression or force of arms. One may suppress matters for a time but, ultimately, there is no lasting sustainable peace or comfort for anybody involved. The long-sought goal of two separate and sovereign states with equal rights for all, a true and permanent home for all Israelis and Palestinians, with each State and each people having the inalienable entitlement to live in peace, without threat or intimidation, and being able to develop to its fullest potential, without let or hindrance, and according to its capacity and likes; surely that is the hope and legitimate expectation of every Palestinian, and every Israeli too.

The achievable prospect of that vision, long sought by the international community, has been systematically undermined by an Israeli Government intent on eliminating a viable Palestinian state through forced evictions and the supplanting of population. Through deliberate and calculated brutal action, the Israeli Government has sought to undermine the agreed international objective of the creation of two peaceful states, side by side. The policy of the Netanyahu government, forcefully supported by the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, was to act in defiance of international law and, in fact, to break international law with impunity.

The situation became immeasurably more urgent with the escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories in recent weeks. We looked on with horror yet again as civilians were killed, including women and, as far as we can count, at least 65 children. The pictures we have all witnessed of innocent children at play in their own homes and streets being killed and maimed is unacceptable and shocking. The notion that every effort is being made to avoid civilian casualties is belied by the reality on the ground and the horror that has been witnessed by everybody in the world.

Last week in this House, I said a ceasefire would come when Israel decided that it had destroyed all it wanted to destroy. That ceasefire thankfully happened on Friday. It was predictable, but we cannot now simply let our focus be removed from the ongoing festering wound in world affairs that is the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Periodic condemnation is simply not enough. I welcome the words spoken by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, today. I genuinely believe that he has worked extraordinarily hard, not only in recent weeks but since he took office, to build consensus at the United Nations and at European Union level. As has become patently clear, however, it is virtually impossible to get consensus at the Security Council because the United States will veto a strong and coherent statement. Taking two weeks to provide a press statement is shocking, and it undermines the principles which led to the establishment of the United Nations in the first instance. Countries such as Hungary, and others, at the EU Council also prevent a common position emerging there.

Last week, I also cited the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund's decision to stop funding companies involved in the development of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. If we cannot bring others with us, we need to be the vanguard of action ourselves. The root cause of conflict must be addressed, not only the symptoms which inevitably bubbly up periodically under the repression of an entire people who have been corralled into an area and are not even allowed to fish in their own territorial seas. Many young Palestinians have never visited or set foot in Jerusalem, the capital they aspire.

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, stated on Sunday that “the root causes of the conflict, the occupation, the displacement, of which we had a strong reminder in East Jerusalem and Sheikh Jarrah, the blockade and the cycle of violence – this sense of normality will only be a mirage until the next conflict." Let us now resolve in this House, if need be, to act ourselves on this moral imperative for all of us. I genuinely believe the Irish people are united on this issue. We should not accept the mirage of normality, to borrow the words of the UNRWA Commissioner-General. We know that mirage is not the reality and it is not the truth.

If we are to allow the notion, and the objective and legitimate expectation, of the Palestinian people to have their own state and live in peace, as well as the legitimate, reasonable and proper expectation of the people of Israel to have their own state, without fear of intimidation or threat, and if we believe that is not only a desirable goal but one which is achievable, let us take whatever actions we now need to take. Even if those actions are ineffective because we are a small country acting alone, to ensure we show our absolute rejection of the undermining of a two-state solution, the annexation of Palestinian land and the eviction by settlers by force of arms of Palestinian people, some of whom have been promised that land since they were first uprooted from their original homeland in the 1940s, let us act in this House tomorrow, in concert and with determination and a unified voice.

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