Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

The situation in South Africa and the apartheid movement was a totally different situation from the type of conflict we are talking about. If I were to look for a comparable situation, and I know it is far apart, I would look to the North of Ireland, where we were trying to bring about reconciliation between two communities. At the end of the day, the only way we succeeded in doing so was by having everybody inside the tent and not having one section outside. The problem is that Hamas has been kept outside the tent.

It must be borne in mind that Hamas got a majority vote in the elections. Prior to that, the American administration had made it quite clear it would accept the will of the people. It does not matter. We can downgrade or minimise that fact, or point to the arguments as to why Hamas should not be inside the tent. The difficulty with that is when one does not allow it to have a political input, invariably one creates a vacuum, which is invariably filled by a military solution. That is what has happened.

We met some Palestinian representatives here from the Palestinian friendship body we have within the House. I understood their position and I was not trying to take sides in these internal matters because the situation is very difficult. The first question I asked the Fatah representative was if he favoured a unity government. I did not get an outright "Yes". Instead, I got explanations. I genuinely believe the only hope we have is to unite the Palestinian people themselves and recognise their voice as expressed in the ballot box.

I am prepared to say that no hostilities of a military nature are acceptable in that situation. However, Hamas finds itself in vacuum. Unless one was made of stone and tied to an agenda by chains, there is no way one could justify the brutality and butchery visited by Israel on the Palestinian people. I am not going to discuss Israel's use of illegal weapons but, rather, the sheer brutality of wiping out whole families, most of whom were civilians with no connection whatsoever to any military unit in Gaza. It was sheer brutality. I still believe one element of the solution to the conflict is for Israel to be held accountable for the crimes it committed during those hostilities. It is not acceptable.

What worried me most was the timing of the brutality. There were two elections pending. There was an election pending in America and the almost certain demise of President Reagan——