Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like other Deputies, I have raised on several occasions the issue of what is happening in the Middle East in the context of the European Union and the roads we are now going down. I refer to the way Europe has developed in the past 50 years. Until the Ukraine issue arose, you could travel from the Dingle Peninsula to the Russian border without encountering a conflict. As such, the arms trade and the big powers were not making any money out of Europe. As there was no conflict, there was no need for the use of arms. We now have two major conflicts where arms, munitions and the supply of same are the key issues. I am referring to Ukraine and Israel's attack on Gaza. I am concerned that enough effort is not being made at European level. Yes, Ireland is making an effort, but I am disappointed that other member states of the European Union are not coming on board to work together to bring and restore peace.

I am also concerned that the international community - I am talking about the major powers, the states with real power - is not taking any action to restrict what Israel can do. This goes back to an issue I raised yesterday, namely, the fact that in 2009 Israel was allowed to use white phosphorous. When a person is hit by white phosphorous, it burns not just the skin but right into the bone. Likewise, Israel used cluster munitions. Cluster munitions are the same as what the IRA used in Northern Ireland. If a cluster munition explodes over a playing field, it will probably hit every person in every part of that playing field. After 2009, the international community did nothing about what was a breach of international law in this area. Again in 2004 Israel breached the rules relating to warfare. Likewise, what is happening at the moment is outrageous in the sense that there are so many innocent people being killed.

This debate is about what is happening at European level, however. We have made huge strides across Europe in the past 50 or 60 years in the context of peace and working together. People who had totally different views 70 years ago, before the Second World War, suddenly found that by working together, they could achieve a huge amount. In a range of areas, including healthcare, social care and education, every country in the European Union has made huge strides in those 70 years, yet we now have countries in the Middle East that are at a standstill.

As regards the problem in Gaza, this relates to a strip of land 21 km long and 10 km wide. In terms of my county, it equates to the land between Cork city and Youghal. There are 2.1 million people living there. In the past four months they have been moved to totally new locations without any supports. In the context of Europe, we need to consider what Ireland can do to bring other countries on board and get them to look at the matter from our point of view.

One of the problems in Ireland at the moment relates to the need to get out more information about the work being done by our diplomatic corps.

They are doing a huge amount of work in Brussels at European level and at UN level. Having been in Brussels for a short period from 2007 to 2009, I saw that we had a quite a number of Irish people who came up the ranks in the European secretariat, the governmental system within Brussels. Such people are quite influential. We need to use that influence as regards Europe taking a united stand on how we deal with this conflict. We have taken a united stand in real terms on Ukraine but we seem to have a problem taking one in respect of Israel. That is a huge mistake by other European countries. We need to work to find a solution to stop the killing of innocent women and children, and men, who are also very innocent, as I said.

I was in the region in 2009 and met the people there who suffered huge consequences of what occurred. In a 22-day period, more than 1,400 people were killed there. That occurred during the changeover of the American President. The outgoing President did not have the power to intervene and the incoming President was not in power. Between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, Israel used it as an opportunity. Likewise it is now using it as an opportunity. Literally, it wants the 2.1 million people to move to a totally new territory. That is the clear message that now appears to be getting out there, that Israel wants to have this to no longer be a problem on its borders.

The other issue that is arising is with the West Bank, which incorporates East Jerusalem. In excess of 350 people have been killed there in recent weeks. The vast majority of them were by Israeli soldiers. Quite a number of them were actually children, yet there is no call on the Israeli Government to answer for those killings. We have to work with our European colleagues but we also have to send out a message here at home about the efforts. We have a fantastic diplomatic service. We have to get the message out about the work that is being done behind the scenes so that we can get other countries on board. One of the countries we really need to try to get on board is America, because that is where a lot of the arms are coming from. The influence America has over Israel is, unfortunately, not being used at the moment. As a result we now have more than 25,000 people dead. As I said yesterday, in 2009 it was one Israeli for every hundred Palestinians killed. I condemn what occurred on 7 October. If we apply the same rule now, does this mean that, with 1,200 people killed then, we have to wait until we have 120,000 people dead before it will come to an end? I thank the Minister of State for the work he is doing. The more work we can do to get European colleagues on side, the more we can put Ireland in a very strong position in dealing with this matter.

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