Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I was very proud that the Green Party argued passionately for the recognition of Palestine in the programme for Government we agreed with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in 2020. Events have moved on since then, tragically so, but the case for recognising the Palestine was as strong back then as it is now. It was not a question of if, but of when and to what effect. Today we deliver on that commitment as a Government and as a Parliament. The timing is important and right. First, we do not do so alone. Not only are we joined by our Spanish and Norwegian colleagues, but this also comes after the vote in the United Nations on 10 May last, when 143 countries voted in favour of Palestine being recognised within the UN system. Second, as the Tánaiste has just said, the timing is important because central to the Arab peace plan presented at the European Council yesterday is the issue of recognition and the benefit and momentum it can bring to delivering an immediate ceasefire. Third is the need for that ceasefire and the fact that we cannot stay silent, either on the release of hostages or on what we saw the day before yesterday with the bombing of a refugee camp in Rafah, similar to what has happened right through the past seven months. Critically, the timing of this recognition comes against the backdrop of an application from the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister for the actions that are taking place and the International Court of Justice's call, similar to ours, for an immediate end to the assault on Gaza.

Today we recognise the State of Palestine and this has a particular resonance for Irish people, given the echoes from our own history. It is the right and proper thing to do. The concept of nationhood can be fraught. Populations can move and intersperse with others, borders can shift back and forth with time and ethnicity is as inexact a concept as it is an emotive one. There can be little doubt that the Palestinian people have an undeniable argument for nationhood. Denying or hindering such an obvious claim is as morally wrong as it is unwise. It stores up grievances that future generations will ultimately have to deal with. Some of the responses from the ordinary Palestinian people we have heard from since we announced our intention have been very moving. The need to secure a ceasefire and get humanitarian aid into Gaza remains, without doubt, the most pressing challenge facing the people of Palestine but it has been heartening to hear that the decision of Ireland, Spain and Norway has offered some solace to those who may have despaired that the international community has forgotten their plight. It is not merely to offer a sense of solidarity that we take this step. We recognise Palestine today because we recognise that peace cannot be achieved without doing so. Mr. Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy put it well last November when he said: "Our political myopia, to think this conflict was manageable by paying lip service to the two-state solution and then leaving it to fester, must end." He was right. We in the west averted our gaze and were content to let the situation fester as long as an uneasy peace continued and did not intrude upon our lives. We have learned the hard way that this tactic was not just morally wrong but strategically foolish. We are unequivocal. Nothing can justify the barbaric slaughter Hamas carried out on 7 October but neither can any of us stand here and say that we never suspected that the powder keg that was Gaza would not explode, with such devastating consequences.

Ireland's recognition of Palestine may present a challenge for Jewish people in Israel and across the world. I ask our Jewish friends, with real respect, to look to our experience here on this island where the long-term denial of one community's rights in favour of another's led to similar misery and devastation. Such an injustice can be maintained for decades or even longer but a people's right to exist cannot be suppressed forever. Let me also reiterate to Israel that the Irish people recognise its right to exist as a nation and recognising Palestine does not, in any way, diminish Israel's rights as a state. In fact, it does the opposite. Our dearest wish is that the establishment of a Palestinian state solidifies the existence of Israel and allows it to prosper and flourish in peace and harmony with its neighbours. I particularly want to offer reassurance to Jewish friends living in Ireland. The past seven months have not been easy and many may feel that there is a change in attitude towards them or people of their religion. We need to assure them that they are welcome here. They belong here and are as Irish as all of us. They are respected and important citizens of our State. Long may Ireland be a home to Jewish people so they can continue their outstanding contribution to our nation in art, science, business and politics. This House has benefited so much from people from our Jewish community. I share their frustration at the one-sided approach that some people take to the conflict. Some appear to think that the Israel's Government's appalling actions mean they can be silent on Hamas's atrocities but I do not. This is not a matter of taking sides. The atrocities committed against innocent Israelis on 7 October were vile, as is the slaughter that the Israeli Defense Forces have unleashed upon innocent Palestinians after it. Both are wrong and we are vociferous in condemning both.

As I said outside Government Buildings when we made our announcement last Wednesday, we have learned the hard way in Ireland that using violence against innocent civilians to try to achieve political goals cannot and must never win, whether that is a car bomb on the streets of Omagh or Jerusalem, a rocket landing in Tel Aviv or a no-warning bomb blast in Birmingham, an assault on a Kibbutz or a bomb dropped from a jet fighter onto a refugee camp in Gaza. It is all wrong. There is no hierarchy in death.

I would like to conclude by responding to criticism levelled at us by the Israeli Government that by recognising Palestine we are somehow emboldening the terrorists of Hamas and that this decision will only lead us further down the path of violence. Again, valuable lessons can be taken from the Irish experience. There was a time, after all, when similar warnings were made by the British establishment. It is a long time ago now, but it was said that the Irish were not fit to govern themselves and that anarchy would surely follow if we were given the chance. The path to Irish statehood was not smooth but over a century on from those dire warnings, the nation that we represent in this Chamber stands up for the rights of the United Nations and the rights of individual nations. It stands up to try to help build peace in our very troubled, conflict-ridden world. If allowed to, and with support from around the world, I pray that Palestine could, in time, follow a similar path to our own. There will no doubt be missteps, just as we have made, and setbacks but the only path forward involves recognising that Palestine has an unalienable right to take its place in the international community. What the people of Palestine ask of us is not outrageous or extravagant. If anything, it is modest. According to the Palestinian-American academic, Edward Said, it is no more than any of us would ask for ourselves: "The long-run goal is...the same for every human being, that politically he or she may be allowed to live free from fear, insecurity, terror, and oppression, free also from the possibility of exercising unequal or unjust domination over others."

Today we recognise Palestine as a state and we commit to working with our European colleagues, in government and across this House, to do everything we can to support an immediate cessation of the assault in Gaza and the day after that ceasefire, to help to deliver a two-state solution, which is the only path to peace.

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