David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Oh God, I am weary of speaking about Palestine. I have been speaking about it for 30 years. I know the area very well. I had an apartment in Jerusalem for many years. My partner was an Israeli Jew who was an activist for Palestinian human rights. As a result he has been harassed, arrested, framed, jailed and he has finally had a stroke and not a bloody thing has been done. Just as in the 1930s Europe stood by and did damn all for the Jews, we are doing damn all for the Palestinians. I am tired of mentioning the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, EUROMED, that has human rights protocols attached to it. We have never even monitored or examined them to see what their impact is. We know from every speaker here today that there have been massive human rights abuses and war crimes committed by Israel but we do not monitor the EUROMED agreement.

The Minister of State talks about live fire. The Israelis have been using dumdum bullets against children. These are bullets that enter the body, expand and burst open tissue, sinew, flesh and bones. The exit wound is three times the size of the entry wound. That is the kind of thing they are doing. We are told stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown. Can the Minister of State tell me how many Israelis were killed? Not one. Some of those shot were members of Hamas – so bloody what? Hamas was elected in Gaza and the world turned its glance away and refused to recognise it. I do not care whether the people shot were in Hamas. They are human beings and they have every right to respect.

The Minister of State talks about attacks on health facilities and personnel - absolutely. Four years ago when they were bombing schools, they were deliberately targeting them. We had the co-ordinates. We knew that they knew they were hitting schools and hospitals, sewage treatment plants and water facilities. The Israeli intent is to degrade the Palestinians to a state lower than animals.

The Minister of State talks about the two-state solution. It is impossible. He talks about the two states with secure borders. How can the Palestinians have secure borders? There are two scraps of land and in the West Bank they are peppered with Israeli settlements, like measles. How can we possibly say to the Palestinians they have a secure border when they are completely and utterly infiltrated? The tragedy is that Europe attempted to solve the moral problem of the Holocaust at the expense of the Palestinians who were not involved in it. That explains the German situation. Let us forget about the EU. We must act independently as a sovereign nation. The EU will do nothing because of the German bad conscience. The Germans are turning around and doing exactly the same to the Palestinians as they did to the Jews in the 1930s. That should be forcibly pointed out to them.

I have been described as anti-Semitic. It does not matter that I lived with an Israeli Jew for 40 years or that the Palestinians are Semites. Nobody accuses the Jews of being anti-Semitic for their attitude towards the Palestinians.

Look at the terrible damage the Israelis are doing to themselves. The wonderful Jewish ethical code that he who saves a life saves the universe has been completely blotted out. Look at the damage to the Israeli soldiers who are young impressionable men. We have seen them gloating after shooting children. That is appalling.

What about the Palestinians? They are in the largest, most horrible, ghastly prison environment the world has seen. They are in a state of total and absolute despair. They can do nothing. The world will not listen. I remember being in the West Bank and saying, "I do not know that my Government will do anything". They said, "At least tell our story". That is the only reason I am standing here today.What can we do? We can recognise the state of Palestine. Why not? This House passed a resolution that we should do so. The Government must listen to the voices of the elected representatives of this country and recognise the state of Palestine. That might put the fear of God into the Israelis. We should boycott all of the illegal settlement goods, withdraw our ambassador for consultation and we should certainly not take part in next year's Eurovision song contest in Israel. This is not a matter for entertainment.