Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Palestinian ambassador to the House. I also welcome Mr. Tim Hanley from Amnesty International and all our visitors in the Public Gallery. I commend Amnesty International on its work on this report. It very much interrogates the record of the Israeli state in its treatment of the Palestinian people. It is a stark document that records a litany of crimes against humanity and it is a damning indictment of an apartheid state that is intent on the oppression and complete domination of the Palestinian people. As damning as the report is, sadly it comes as no surprise to those of us who watch what is happening on the ground in Palestine, the fragmentation of Palestinian lands, the dispossessions and the suppression of political and civic activity. We have seen apartheid in South Africa, the systematic attempt to control a people and this is daily life for Palestinian people.

I want to add my voice to the recommendations of the Amnesty International report. I also support the call by Amnesty International for the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against Israeli officials implicated in the crime of apartheid. The UN special assembly on apartheid needs to be re-established. I also have to mention the designation by Israel of six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organisations. This is a blatant attempt to suppress human rights organisations involved in essential work in highlighting the human rights abuses of the Palestinian people. I call on the Government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, to add their support to the conclusions and recommendations contained in the Amnesty report. Ireland's role on the UN Security Council must be made to mean something. The Minister needs to begin to challenge the international inertia that exists in challenging Israel on its human rights record. We must influence the EU to speak out on Israel's record of apartheid. It is simply unacceptable that an international body that lauds the cause of human rights is content to ignore one of the worst instances of crimes against humanity taking place in the world today.

Finally, through the Cathaoirleach, I ask Senator Ned O’Sullivan the following question: what is not apartheid? Is the forcible transfer of Palestinians to make way for illegal Israeli settlements not apartheid? What about preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes and lands, including millions of refugees living in exile? What of the systematic and severe deprivation of fundamental human rights of Palestinians based on their identity? Is denying Palestinians the right to freedom of movement and residence, especially but not limited to Palestinians living on the Gaza Strip, not apartheid? What of murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment and other sever deprivation of physical liberty, or the persecution of Palestinians because of their opposition to apartheid?

We should never assume that there are not feminist and queer movements everywhere across this world, including in Palestine. There are and I commend them as they persevere in their fight for equality.