I wish to share time with Deputies Ó Snodaigh, McLellan and McDonald.
I welcome that the Government is supporting this motion. Of course, in this House we recognise more than most the importance of recognition. The first gathering of the Dáil took place on 21 January 1919, just around the corner from here in the Mansion House, and the Teachta Dála who gathered there declared to the world the freedom of the Irish people and put their programme for Government to the Irish people and to the world. They asked for recognition of our State. Tragically, recognition was hard to find and we were bound into a war over the next number of years and the tragic consequences of all of that. We in Ireland are aware of the importance of recognition by other countries of one's right to statehood and to freedom and dignity. I am delighted that this motion will be passed, it appears, unanimously, here tonight in this House.
I recently had the chance to visit the Occupied Territories and Palestine. I was in Ramallah and I travelled from there, through the infamous Kalandia checkpoint, through what is called the Devil's Elbow - that long winding road that Palestinians must take to journey to Hebron, Bethlehem and other locations. Rather than the direct route, the Palestinians must take this long circuitous route. Along the way, I saw at first hand both Israel's wall of division - its Apartheid wall built around Jerusalem - and the settlements.
On the journey that day, I passed through areas A, B, and C. I visited Hebron and I saw how the Al-Ibrahimi mosque, the scene of the Hebron massacre 20 years ago, is now annexed for the use of Jewish worshippers in a section of it. I saw how their sacred mosque, the fourth most sacred place for those of the Muslim faith in the world, is surrounded by military installations. I saw at first hand the occupation of that city to protect just 400 Israeli settlers, and, of course, the settlers who are all around the city. I saw the infrastructure that Israel has constructed - the settler-only roads where, as we speak, they are destroying the two-state solution. Those roads that connect the settlements illegally under international law to the city of Jerusalem are settler-only roads - it is Apartheid.
I travelled on to Bethlehem, a city with considerable potential in terms of tourism and wealth creation for the Palestinians who live there. The Israelis advise tourists not to stay there stating they will bus tourists in to visit the Church of the Nativity where Christ was born and will bus them out again. The Palestinians who live there do not enjoy the benefits of the place where Christ was born for their community, and they want to. They embrace and celebrate it, but they are not able to enjoy the benefits.
Then I spent a full day in Jerusalem. I was horrified at what I saw at first hand. There is a situation where the Israelis have annexed east Jerusalem for a long number years. During that period they have built illegal settlements throughout the city and as one drives past those settlements, everything is spick and span. There is a tram connecting these illegal settlements to the rest of Jerusalem and Apartheid is again in place because one sees, on going into the Palestinian communities within Jerusalem, that those communities are not maintained. One can see litter. One can see the roads are not maintained. Even traffic lights do not work. That is the Israeli policy and practice because we, in the international community, have sat on our hands and expected the Oslo Accord to be implemented on its own.
In Jerusalem, I met Palestinian families who are being evicted from their homes and whose homes are to be demolished. In one case, I met a 96 year old woman who had just been beaten by settlers. Within that city, settlers terrorise the Palestinians, who are driven to despair. I then met a family where a lad was 14 or 15 years old. He had been arrested 16 times. He was nine years old when he was first arrested by Israeli forces. They are trying to drive the Palestinians within this area out of their homes. It is very difficult for a Palestinian to build a home in Jerusalem today.
All around me, be it in Ramallah, throughout the West Bank and even when we visited Jerusalem that day, at a whim the Israelis closed down the Kalandia checkpoint which meant that a Palestinian could not gain entry into Jerusalem. Merely for some derisory security reason on that given day, they closed down the whole place. We were fortunate because we held foreign passports. We could go a circuitous route and come into Jerusalem another way with our foreign passports, but it was not for the Palestinian people to go to and enjoy their city.
Palestinians in east Jerusalem are not even citizens; they are residents. They are given residency by the Israelis who are occupying east Jerusalem in defiance of international law. It is shocking to see it at first hand.
I was profoundly saddened on my way home. The two-state solution is dying as we speak. The Palestinian people no longer control 22% of historic Palestine, which they were so generously willing to accept; they control approximately 5%. If one takes the areas that are described as A, B and C and take away the Jordan Valley and east Jerusalem, all that is left is 5%, which does not amount to a state. The international community has allowed that to happen.
I have not even mentioned Gaza, which has again been destroyed by an onslaught. The Israelis have blockaded Gaza. There is no airport in the state of Palestine. One cannot fly there. That is why it is so vital that more and more countries across the world take the initiative, take an independent stance and, accordingly, recognise the state of Palestine.
I listened to the Government’s argument. The motion commends the Government on some of the initiatives it has taken. I appreciate that it is important to build international alliances and to work in partnership to resolve issues, but the fact is that the international community has absolutely failed the Palestinian people. I cannot describe the level of despair I witnessed. I was in the West Bank. I did not get into Gaza. I did not see where the real and utter devastation is evident. I refer to the looks on the faces of people in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and everywhere else that we met them. Those beautiful people with their beautiful culture and sheer potential to build a nation and take their place among the nations of the Earth have been so failed by the international community.
We have worked to reach consensus with other European states but there is no consensus. Even when a report condemned the illegal settlements in the West Bank the trade partnerships still continued and we still purchase goods from the illegal settlements. We still give them the green light and allow the Israelis to have nuclear weapons and to deny that they have them. We still allow them not to sign up to the non-proliferation treaty yet we demand from Iran the highest possible standards where they might even be able to use nuclear energy for their own economy. At the same time Israel has all the weapons that we never demand to see or on which we expect accountability.
I passionately believe that the best interests of the Israeli people, who have a right to security, their own state and to peace, is in a two-state solution. If the Israelis give the Palestinian people their dignity and negotiate a proper state, not 5% but the 22% the Palestinian people are willing to accept, that is the surest way to achieve peace. I will be at the front line tabling motions in the House to defend the Israeli people if they come under attack having done the right thing. The purpose of the motion is to say that we as a sovereign, independent State wish to take our own position on the matter. We have the opportunity to do that tonight. I cannot describe how happy I am that we will do it, but the next step is for the Government to recognise the Palestinian state. I hope to see that happen soon.
