Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Palestinian ambassador to the House and those who were in the Gallery earlier. I also want to thank those who have supported the Palestinian people down through the decades and are continuing to do so. Sadly, the recognition of the State of Palestine has been a long time coming. It is ten years since the Dáil unanimously passed a Sinn Féin motion calling for this to happen. That delay and the reluctance to take action in good time has seen the people of Palestine continue to be oppressed, occupied and subjected to a system of apartheid. This has been facilitated by an international hesitance to call Israeli Governments out on their atrocities, which have resulted most recently in the deaths of 36,000 children and adults, 189 UNRWA staff and 262 aid workers. Then there was last Sunday's indiscriminate slaughter in Rafah, which the Israeli Government in its moral vacuum dismissed as a mere mistake or error. How dare it. This was mass murder and nothing else and it was seen by the world.

The Israeli Government acts with such impunity and treats its atrocities so dismissively because many of the international community's leading countries have failed to hold Israel to account for its breaches of international law. This inaction has emboldened the Israeli Government in its quest to undermine any notion of a two-state solution. It continues to break international law and destroy lives, safe in the knowledge that the standards to which others are held do not apply to it. The Israeli Government has dismissed the ruling of the ICJ to halt its offensive in Rafah. The EU has also failed. Ursula von der Leyen provides Israel with cover, while a review of the EU-Israeli association agreement remains undone. Ultimately, the Israeli Government has shown by its actions that it is not interested in a peace settlement. By recognising Palestine as a state, we want it to have the same standing as the nations of the world in its quest for independence, a two-state solution, self-determination and ultimately, a lasting peace. We must go further. The Government must enact the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, the occupied territories Bill and join the ICJ case against Israel. We must use all diplomatic measures to end all military action and end the occupation of the state we have formally recognised. World leaders must recognise Palestine as a state, deserving of the same rights as all others. Those resisting this must stop standing by as genocide is perpetrated in front of a global audience. It is there now, through social media, for the whole world to see. Ultimately, the call made by so many campaigners across this country and the world has been heard. It is now time for the Palestinian people to be heard and we pledge our continued support for them.

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