Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join other Senators in absolutely condemning without question yesterday's murders in Gaza. To put things in context, there are 2 million Palestinian prisoners in an area of about 365 sq. km. It is the third most densely occupied part of the world.

The Israelis must realise that if a revolution will take place and more deaths will come because this is only a start; this is not the end of the situation. They literally could technically move into Israel and Israel needs to be very careful. It would take some army to control 2 million people and that is what they are trying to do. That is why they shot dead in cold blood young people, middle-aged people and children with sharpshooters shooting into the area. It is one of the most outrageous atrocities. It brought back memories to most of us of Bloody Sunday, when the British army mowed down 14 people in the Bogside. As we felt then, we feel now the same sense of outrage over what is happening in Gaza and Israel. We have to condemn it outright. While condemnation is fine, we need to ask what other action we can take to ensure the issue is further highlighted.

We in this House warned of the fallout from the opening of the American Embassy in Jerusalem. It was obvious, as those of us who have been in Jerusalem realise. Jerusalem is the centre of all international faiths and is also the capital for Palestine.If the Israelis want to make it their capital, it can be shared in some form or other as an international city. That being said, I just feel that all we can do is condemn the activities. Seventy years ago yesterday, the State of Israel was established by international agreement without any concern whatsoever for the faith of the Palestinians living there. Now it is the West Bank and Gaza. I am not too impressed by Hamas's activities. It does not recognise the State of Israel. This is provocative, quite frankly. The other side, the West Bank, is controlled by Fatah. It is more reasonable - too reasonable, obviously, because what is happening in that region is that Hamas is getting backing because of its militaristic approach. Let us be quite clear about this: Hamas's commitment is to wipe out the State of Israel. If it wants to sit down and negotiate, let it sit down and remove those kinds of threats against any other country. We are for the two-state solution. The late Brian Lenihan Snr. was the first Minister in Europe to recognise the two-state solution many years ago, and we are very proud of his commitment. Fianna Fáil supports utterly Palestine and we condemn these activities.