Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week the United States of America and Israel marked the locating of the United States embassy in Jerusalem. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said it was "a glorious day for Israel". The US President, Donald Trump, said it was "a great day for Israel." For Palestinians, however, it was an horrific day as the toll of dead and injured rose. It was also the 70th anniversary of Nakba, the catastrophe. This annual commemoration remembers the nearly 700,000 Palestinians who were forced from their land and homes by the Israeli army, and who have become refugees. I have visited many of the locations where the refugees live and the occupied territories.

This years' Nakbais now marked by a new catastrophe. The Israeli army murdered dozens of Palestinians in Gaza that day and more than 2,700 others were wounded. An eight month old baby died as a result of inhaling tear gas. There are 1.3 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza. Today it is the biggest prison in the world. Throughout the last seven weeks they have protested for the right of return for Palestinian refugees forcibly expelled from their homes in 1948. Since the protests began on 30 March Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli forces have murdered more than 100 Palestinians. They have wounded more than 13,000 men, women and children. I put it to the Minister of State again that whoever wrote those lines in his speech should be utterly ashamed of themselves.