Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The Israeli Government's military bombardment of the Jenin refugee camp caused the deaths of 12 Palestinians, five of whom were children. Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. It destroyed roads, electricity and water services. The Israeli Government outrageously managed to make refugees out of refugees. The views of the United Nations are that the military force used by the Israelis was a gross violation of international law and the standard of the force that was employed could well amount to a war crime.

The actions in Jenin and the Israeli Government's apartheid policies of immiseration of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza are undermining efforts to secure a sustainable and peaceful two-nation state. The international community must urgently respond to this aggression and occupation by the Israelis. The response of the European Union has fallen well short of what is needed to force the Israeli Government to abandon its scorched Palestinian earth policy. The onus is also on the Government to effectively respond to this latest and endless aggression towards the Palestinians. Peace and a two-nation solution to a Palestinian-Israeli conflict need a government to champion it. The Irish Government is well placed in the EU and the rest of the world to be such an ambassador. We can set the momentum and other governments in the EU will follow. There is already cross-party support in the Oireachtas, demanding an end to Israeli occupation and annexation of Palestinian land. There are measures that can be taken immediately. This Government should recognise the state of Palestine. The Oireachtas has already voted to recognise the state of Palestine. Let this Government act on that mandate from the Oireachtas, a mandate that represents the moral desire of the Irish people and the majority of people in our country. Let this Government's response to Jenin be the recognition of the state of Palestine. The Government should also take the lead in withdrawing its investment in companies that operate in the occupied territories. On the foot of that decision, it should lobby with credibility to the EU to follow suit and withdraw any investments it has in the occupied territories. An international campaign of sustained pressure on the Israeli Government is urgently needed to stop the Israeli Government's military policy of humiliation of the Palestinian people. This Government should lead that international crusade for peace and a two-nation-state solution in Palestine and Israel.