Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh na ráitis seo agus go bhfuil seal agam le labhairt faoi chúrsaí sa Phalaistín.

The refugee camp at Jenin in the West Bank is a perfect, albeit tragic, symbol of Israel’s brutal occupation of and aggression against the Palestinian people. I ask the House to imagine a child of Palestine in 1948. Imagine that this child was one of the 700,000 Palestinian children, women and men who were forcibly removed from their homes during the Nakba. This child lost everything – their home, their security, their future and their homeland. They were forced into a refugee camp and waited for the world to act. The world did not act.

That first refugee camp was destroyed in a snowstorm, and so it was that this child was forced again to move to what became known as the Jenin refugee camp. Again, the child hoped that the world would act to allow them to return home, but the world did not act. This child grew up in that refugee camp, depending on charity when all they wanted was to go back to where they came from.

Imagine that child had a child. The child's child was born just 52 miles as the crow flies from the birthplace of Jesus Christ. That child was born in time for the Israeli invasion of the West Bank, including Jenin. The child and their child again lived under Israeli occupation. Another Palestinian generation was to live through that occupation, discrimination and the denial of the most fundamental of human rights. The child and their child, still wanting to return home, waited for the world to act, but the world did not act.

Imagine the child’s child had their own child, born at the time of the intifada and the ongoing Israeli raids that left three generations living in constant fear. They watched as their camp was subjected to Israeli attack after Israeli attack as vital utilities were destroyed on a systematic basis. They were subjected to collective punishment and persistent breaches of international law. In 1993 and 1995, they witnessed the signing of the Oslo Accords and they hoped against hope that the world was finally acting, but it was not. From day 1, Israel breached the condition of the accords that transferred control and administration of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority. The hope was finally shattered in April 2002 when Israel launched what it called Operation Defensive Shield. Four hundred homes were destroyed and hundreds more were severely damaged. Estimates suggest that 500 people were killed by Israeli forces. A UN envoy at the time compared the camp to an earthquake zone. The BBC reported that 10% of the camp was "virtually rubbed out by a dozen armoured Israeli bulldozers." The child, their child and their child waited again for the world to act, but it did not.

Imagine somewhere along the line yet another child was born - the child of the child of the child of the child who was forced out of their home during the Nakba. The Nakba became a daily, lived and horrendous reality for each generation, with Israeli invasions virtually on an annual basis. Ostensibly, these were raids targeting Palestinian militants, but every single objective observer who has reported on the instances has described indiscriminate and collective punishment operations that serve to destroy lives, homes and hope. The child of 2023, just like the child of the 1990s, the child of the 1960s and the child of 1948, waited and waited for the world to act, but the world did not - not when other children were killed in Israeli attacks, not when services, often funded by the international community, were destroyed, and not even when, in May 2022, Israeli forces murdered the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was simply doing her job in telling the truth of what was happening in the Jenin refugee camp. The world did not say "Stop". The international community turned away. As the world did not say "Stop", Israel did not stop. Another child of Palestine and another generation of Jenin were abandoned to Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Imagine what it must have been like for the child of 1948 and their child and their child and their child when, on 3 July: Israeli forces again invaded the refugee camp; the estimated population of 14,000 refugees was again terrorised; according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, 3,000 of those had to be evacuated; according to Médecins Sans Frontières, Israeli military bulldozers destroyed multiple roads into the camp, "making it nearly impossible for ambulances to reach patients" and meaning Palestinian paramedics were "forced to proceed on foot, in an area with active gunfire and drone strikes"; Israeli forces fired tear gas into a government hospital; at least 12 people were killed, including five children; and more than 100 people were seriously injured, with 20 of them in a critical condition.

Imagine for one minute what hope remains for that child of 2023. What does their grandparent of the 1960s tell them? What would their parent of the 1990s tell them? What lesson would they take from the lived experience of their great-grandparent who was forced from the place they called "home" in 1948? Was it that the world would finally act? Most likely not.

I want to send a message to the Palestinian child of 2023 and to today's children of Jenin. That message is crystal clear, namely, that the people of Ireland stand with them. We stand against the aggression, the annexation, the occupation and the apartheid that defines their existence. However, the words of our message must be met with actions. The world must finally respond appropriately to Israeli war crimes. We know others will refuse to do so, and shame on them, so Ireland must lead the way. We must lead the way with our words, which this House is generally united upon. I welcome the Tánaiste's speech, in which he unequivocally and rightly placed primary responsibility for the deteriorating situation on the occupying power, namely, Israel. However, we must also lead the way with real, tangible measures that show the world and, most importantly, the children of Jenin that we want no hand, act or part in the systematic destruction of the Palestinian people.

We should, of course, seek to build consensus and support among others, particularly within the EU, but we should also be clear that, if they will not move, we will. As a starting point, the Government must move immediately to progress the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023, which was introduced by Deputy Brady of Sinn Féin. The Bill simply prevents Irish taxpayers' money from being invested in companies that profit from Israel's illegal occupation and settlement expansion. It is shameful that our moneys were invested in such companies in the first place, but it is inexcusable that the Government has sought to frustrate and delay the Sinn Féin Bill. "Wait nine months", says the Government, just as every child of Palestine since the Nakba of 1948 has been told to wait. Likewise when it comes to recognising the state of Palestine, which is the official position of this House, the Government says, "Wait".

For the Palestinians, it is always a waiting game. Meanwhile, our Government complies with EU accelerated procedures when it suits Israel. Israel actually enjoys what is officially called "a preferential trading relationship" with the European Union. This is worth billions of euro in trade to a state that ignores, disregards and breaches UN resolutions and international laws every single day. Why do we not tell Israel to wait - to wait until it complies with international law, to wait until it ends its occupation, its annexation, its expansion of illegal settlements and its ongoing, brutal apartheid of the Palestinian people and to wait until it engages constructively with its Palestinian neighbours and reaches a peace settlement that upholds the rights of the Palestinian people to their dignity, their human rights and their own state free from apartheid, occupation and military aggression? It is simply not conceivable to tell another generation of Palestinian children they must wait. It is time for the world to act; I tell the Tánaiste it is time for Ireland to lead the way.

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