Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I express my condolences to all those who have died in recent weeks in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. I join in the growing chorus of Irish voices inside and outside this House who cherish the principle that attacks intentionally directed against a civilian population or against individual civilians who are not taking part in hostilities are wrong. They are unacceptable. They are a breach of Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and war crimes. This is why we should unanimously condemn the attacks in southern Israel by Hamas and unanimously condemn the indiscriminate bombing of northern Gaza by the Israeli Government. Those positions are not incompatible. They are compatible with upholding the international rules-based order Ireland supports and believes in. I welcome that the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, has expressed those views on our behalf to the governments in the region and to our partners in the EU. I urge him to continue to express them, especially to those who have not provided balance either in their foreign policy commentary this week or in the many decades since the illegal occupation of Palestine.

From our history, we know the journey of fighting for national self-determination. It is why many Irish people identify with the Palestinian people, not because they are somehow biased but because they can see this is not a dispute between two equally equipped international governments. The occupation does not involve two equal parties. It is clear that while Israel and its population prosper in the world economy, people living in Gaza and the West Bank and the 3 million Palestinian refugees live in squalid conditions, which amounted to a humanitarian crisis long before now. They are restricted in their ability to do the most basic activities, including to move freely, and they live under a system of apartheid.

We have a long history and tradition in this House of supporting the Palestinian people, but we also have a long history of a successful peace process, which has parity of esteem at its core. The two-state settlement seems distant at this point, but it was at the darkest moments of our Troubles, when innocent children were killed, that the seeds of change grew, mostly in the hearts of people who were not leaders. I hope those seeds, although distant, can grow in Israel and Palestine. I call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of prisoners, an international framework for talks, parity of esteem, compromise and peace.

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