Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support all that has been said in regard to the motion. I have no difficulty about a move towards recognising Palestine as a state. This is, in fact, policy which is accepted even by Israel itself, I believe, in terms of a two-state solution.

I want to echo the remarks of my colleague, Senator Bradford, that whenever the issue of the Middle East comes up in this House, it is one-sided, although this may not be a very popular thing to say. We rarely hear the Israeli side of things, although it is a country whose people believe that they too are victims. I often reflect on what might have happened last summer, in the face of the horrendous savagery that went on and the innocent people who were killed, if Israel did not have a protective shield over its own country as Hamas fired thousands of rockets into civilian areas of Israel. I certainly would not like to be living in Israel and have to be subjected to that as well.

It is just a small point to be made that, whenever we talk about Israeli rights, there are two sides to this story. I would be one of the harshest critics of Israeli policy towards Palestine. They are a superior power but they also see themselves as a nation under threat from those elements in Palestine who are committed to not only a political solution - the two-state solution - but also to extinguishing Israel as a state. Senator Bradford's intervention is timely and appropriate, and is one I would support in the context of any debate that takes place in this House about the complexities of the Middle East situation. There are two sides to this story as well.