Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Last month, following another violent incursion and atrocity inflicted on the Palestinian people by the State of Israel, I once again, along with Deputies, asked the Tánaiste whether the Government would finally recognise the state of Palestine in keeping with the commitment made by the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, in 2020. Two aspects of the Tánaiste's reply were at odds with the reality being experienced in the occupied territories as we speak. First, he stated he would be prepared to recommend the Government recognise Palestine "in the absence of progress towards a two-state solution". It is now abundantly clear that a two-state solution is not viable, given the Israeli Government has shown it has absolutely no ambition or intention to cease its persecution of the Palestinian people and abandon its imposition of apartheid. As a result, progress has, undeniably, not only stalled but receded.

Second, the Tánaiste expressed that "the timing and context" of recognising Palestine was integral to helping its cause or risking harming it. He stated he did not believe recognition would help Palestine at this time because other EU countries have not indicated they are prepared to do so. Without a united front with other member states, the Government believes it would harm Palestine if we were to recognise its sovereignty.

That is farcical. It is an abdication of responsibility, it is unjust and it is an insult to the people of Palestine and those in the occupied territories. The notion that showing leadership and doing the right thing could possibly have a negative impact is not just stupid, it is downright cowardly. How can anyone sit and watch while Palestinian children are murdered in their homes because the Government is too frightened to step up, step out of line and show leadership at an international level? It is too scared to put a foot out of line as a self-determining and confident Republic. If no one else does, the Government's conditions for recognising Palestine will never be achieved. Why can we not be the ones to demonstrate leadership on an international scale, as we have done several times in the past? If not us, who else can we expect to do it? What if nobody demonstrates leadership and shows the courage of their convictions? Do we then just sit idly by and say we were not able to do it alone? Will the Government then continue to bury this genocide and apartheid in neoliberal jargon, or will it find some humanity and step up in the face of adversity?

I urge it to do the latter and follow in the footsteps of the late Brian Lenihan Snr. It is rare I would reference former members of Fianna Fáil, but the Tánaiste himself referenced him in his contribution and it was an important point. He was the first European politician to recognise the right of Palestinians to a homeland, more than 40 years ago. We recognise and remember this after all that time because it was courageous and brave and because it stood out from the pack and demonstrated leadership. There is any number of people we could reference in this country who have demonstrated leadership, but I use that example to try to appeal to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. I ask once again that the Tánaiste's Government, in keeping with his memory of that contribution, demonstrate a similar level of bravery, courage and leadership in stepping out from the pack and recognising the state of Palestine today. If the Tánaiste rightly acknowledges that form of leadership, there is an onus on us to step up once again and be the first to act.

Along with recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state, the matter of naming the Israeli programme of terror for what it is, apartheid, is incredibly important. Last year, 2022, proved to be the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations began keeping records of these atrocities. Some 171 people were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank that year. This number includes the murder of more than 30 children. That same year, 9,000 Palestinians were injured and maimed by the Israeli occupying forces. The Government has continued to offer words of condemnation, but nothing more, and 2023 looks like it will be even darker.

The word "apartheid" is one the Government refuses to use. That word has meaning in international law, but the Government refuses to use it even though human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have found that the circumstances inflicted upon the Palestinian people by the State of Israel are just that. This refusal of recognising the Israeli regime for what it is makes us complicit. Israel treats Palestinians as an inferior racial group, segregating and oppressing them wherever it has control over their rights. The regime’s laws and policies are designed specifically to deprive Palestinians of those rights.

Does anyone in this Chamber, be they in opposition or in government, believe that illegal settlements, the enforced evictions against the Palestinian people by the Israeli state, demolitions, torture, detentions and unlawful killings, which have been widely reported by reputable sources and by the people themselves who have suffered these injustices, are not taking place? I do not believe that anyone does, but we tie ourselves up in semantics and empty rhetoric. This is a matter of law, and international law is clear that such a system of domination and oppression by one racial group over another constitutes the crime against humanity that is apartheid.

If we recognise that these systems of oppression are in place, it is beyond insulting that we continue to debate semantics and phraseology as if people are not dying in their droves. The crime of apartheid is being perpetrated whether we like or use the term or not. I remind the Government once again of the extremist Israeli Government Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has sweeping powers over the West Bank and who, after the 26 February attack on the Palestinian town of Huwara by hundreds of settlers, leading to the deaths of Palestinians, said "I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the State of Israel should do it, not, God forbid, private individuals." A Minister in the Government of Israel said these words. Statements like these show that Israel will not negotiate or compromise, and there will be no two-state solution. The sooner Ireland's Government realises or accepts that and commits to act the quicker we can demonstrate actual solidarity with the people of Palestine.

It is a disgrace that investments held by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund are linked to businesses that are complicit in human rights violations in Palestinian territories. That absolutely makes us complicit. The Irish taxpayer should not be complicit in the funding of an apartheid state. lf we believe that the sanctions such as those imposed on the Russian Federation because of its grotesque invasion and the terror it is inflicting upon the people of Ukraine are legitimate, what is the difference in this instance? I ask this time and again. Why do we continue to see ourselves as somehow being above the action that we know we need to take? Human lives are human lives. We must see their pain and suffering identically and commit to helping the Palestinian people against this grotesque oppression that has been inflicted upon them, and which has been for decades. There is a space for the Irish people, the Government and the State to step out and act first, to recognise the state of Palestine, and to enact an occupied territories Bill to say we will not be complicit in this.

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