Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to make a Second Stage speech, but this is my first speech on this issue since I became Fianna Fáil spokesman on foreign affairs so I ask the Cathaoirleach for a small bit of leeway. It is important for my party that we outline exactly what our position on this is. I welcome the Bill and I commend Senator Black and her colleagues for introducing it. Fianna Fáil has decided to support the Bill on Second Stage and Committee Stage. I am supporting the section. My party has a long-held interest in the Middle East peace process. It was a Fianna Fáil-led Government which made Ireland the first EU member state to propose the two-state solution.

In supporting the Bill and the section, we are very conscious of the wrongs that have been committed by both sides. It is certainly not our intention to alienate Israel or its allies. We fully support Israel's right to self-determination and self-defence. We further believe, and I wish to state on record, that there is an onus on the Palestinian Authority to act responsibly in its interactions with Israel and to do all it can to prevent attacks on the Israeli people. Notwithstanding that, we are deeply frustrated by the lack of progress towards a two-state solution. We believe that the continued expansion of illegal settlements on Palestinian land and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank cannot be allowed to continue.In 1980 Brian Lenihan Snr said unequivocally that the Palestinian people had the right to self-determination and an independent state in Palestine. That remains the key policy of my party to this day, but we also respect the state of Israel and its undisputed right to self-determination and self-defence. Attacks on Israel and incitement to violent action are unacceptable to us. However, we cannot support the continuous building by Israelis on Palestinian land which has proved to be totally disastrous for the peace process.

Since I took on this brief and this motion was flagged, I have been inundated with messages of support for the Palestinian position. I welcome and respect all of these communications, but I have heard almost nothing in support of Israel. It is my opinion that it has a serious public relations problem in that regard. As we know, there are two sides to every story and while I hold this brief, I intend to look at both sides and try to make a fair assessment of the situation. In this country there is a pro-Palestinian consensus, of which I am not a part. I am not one to blame the state of Israel for everything. It is worth recalling that the people of Israel, the Jewish nation, have undergone suppression and abuse and endured behaviour by others that no other nation in the history of the world-----