Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Burke, is very welcome, as always. Clearly this debate is very impassioned. I will start by saying there are wrongs on all sides with this. There is no doubt the Palestinian people have suffered greatly over the years. I have not studied the Amnesty International report in great detail. Amnesty as an organisation has done more good than bad in the world as a whole. It certainly has and does call out injustices that have taken place around the world over many decades. Amnesty's contribution must be acknowledged and it must be saluted for what it has done.

Reports must be challenged, however, and it is appropriate we would have a debate on and challenge the report. Every report worth its salt should be challenged. I want to see a solution to this problem that has gone on for far too long. The international community has a responsibility, and a greater responsibility now more than ever before, to engage with all sides and come up with a solution. Foreign affairs in general has changed in the past week or two. We now must have a more hands-on approach in dealing with conflict, dealing with bullies and dealing with what happens. On what Russia is doing to Ukraine, Russia did the same in Crimea back in 2014 and yet the world stood by and did nothing about it. This is happening now in Ukraine. We are imposing sanctions and clearly Russia has factored those sanctions into its behaviour.

The international community really needs to engage in a very focused and determined way in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. I believe in the two-state solution but this needs to be negotiated in a very intense way. Rhetoric on both sides and entrenched positions on both sides will not work. There have been wrongs on both sides of that. There is no doubt the Palestinian people have suffered enormously but we must look to the future. We must put a roadmap in place now that will bring a solution and peace and that will, it is hoped, build the bridges Senator O'Sullivan is talking about. Clearly the bridges are not there. It would be very sad if the Amnesty report actually created more conflict and further entrenched positions. The people who have subscribed to Amnesty over the years would not want to see that.

As Senator O'Sullivan has said, and I believe he is right, maybe it will be the catalyst that will see a micro-focused and very determined approach by the international community. Does Ireland have a role to play in that? Absolutely we have a role to play in that. We certainly do not have role in creating further division by using language that is clearly offensive, that has an historical context and connotation, and that would clearly upset and create entrenchment. We have a role to play. Ireland has been over the years a peacemaker. Let us use the influence we clearly have on the international stage to bring together communities and peoples to negotiate the type of arrangement we all want to see, where all people are treated with respect: Palestinians and Israelis.