Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 16 Dec 1987

Vol. 118 No. 1

Adjournment Matter. - Incidents on West Bank and Gaza.

Mr. Ferris

I thank the Chair and the House for allowing me to raise this very important matter on the Adjournment of Seanad Eireann. I wish to indicate that other leaders of the groups in this House want to be associated with this Adjournment motion. If it is agreed, and if time permits I propose that Senator Lanigan, Leader of the House who also happens to be the international chairperson of the Euro-Arab Parliamentary Dialogue Group which has done a lot of work in this area, Senator Manning, Leader of the Fine Gael group, Senator Brendan Ryan and Senator Eogan who has expressed an interest in this particular problem indicate their concern to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In his reply I hope the Minister will reaffirm the concern of the Government in this area.

It is sad there is a need to bring a motion on the Adjournment on this subject before the House of the Oireachtas. It arises out of the loss of lives of Palestinian civilians over the past week in Gaza and the West Bank in particular and indeed throughout the occupied territories in Palestine. This follows outbreaks of civilian disturbances and responses to that civilian disturbance by the Israeli army in what has now become internationally accepted as a most brutal fashion.

One would have to visit the occupied territories and the refugee camps in the Middle East, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank, to appreciate and understand the wealth of feeling and frustration the Palestinian people feel following the occupation of the territory by the Israelis and the iron fisted approval of the Israeli Government and their army in dealing with what would normally be considered acts of minimal violence. As I have said, that violence follows on the frustration that I witnessed when I visited the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians fail totally to understand how any civilised nation in the world could treat human beings in the manner in which they are at present being treated.

I know UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Work Agency which is subscribed to generously by the United Nations and by members of the United Nations including Ireland — do great work. This Government and previous Governments have supported UNRWA in trying to ensure that refugees have some semblance of a life in what is a false division of their country. Were it not for the United Nations agency who provide schooling, health and other social services for refugees a revolution would have happened many many years ago in Palestine because of the extraordinary circumstances in which people have to survive. I saw school children who at most were guilty of stone-throwing because they feel only hatred for an army that treats them as if they were not human beings and I saw the army arresting all the children in a school because one or two unidentifiable children were purported to have thrown stones at passing army vehicles. Those children were taken without the knowledge of their parents and often were never returned or if they were returned were mishandled and mistreated. The force acted with no regard for human behaviour; they might have been arresting somebody for a very serious crime. I was amazed that any army in this day and age would do that to school children.

A feeling of resentment has built up over the past 40, 20 and ten years. Ordinary peaceful people who are engaging in breaches of the law so to speak are being dealt with as if they were terrorists. They are being subjected by the army to the most atrocious killings and maiming. There have been stories and television coverage of children being strapped to the front of army vehicles and used as buffers in dealing with civilian riots. The last time that anybody in Ireland saw that type of action was during the period of the Black and Tans. It would be awful if this Government and this House of the Oireachtas were to stand idly by and allow a situation to develop in a part of the world which affects all of our lives.

A peaceful settlement is required as a matter of urgency because there is not a military solution to that problem. There has to be a political solution to it. I hope this Government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs — and I thank the Minister for personally attending this debate tonight — will show the political initiative they have been capable of in this particular area in the past. It is a matter of urgency because over the past ten or 12 days up to 12 people have lost their lives and hundreds of people have been hospitalised. People who have been hospitalised have died from has been described as extraordinary wounds and beatings. I am sorry that the matter needs to be raised in this House.

It is appropriate as a nation that has suffered from occupation by other forces that we should express concern. We should use every political effort at our disposal at the United Nations and at European Community level to further the process of an international peace conference towards which all of us have tried to work. This has been dealt with today in The Irish Times in their editorial which states “Gaza, a case for political action,” and which outlines in detail what they feel is the proper process to overcome this difficulty. This has been the subject of a speech recently by the Permanent Representative of Sweden at the United Nations who has stated categorically the feeling of all the Scandinavian countries who are outside of the European Community. I quote from a speech of Mr. Anders Ferm in which he states:

"Israel refuses to negotiate with representatives of the PLO. If there is a genuine will to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict, parties to that conflict should not simply refuse to sit down and negotiate with one another. If it has been the policy of parties to conflicts to exclude their enemies from peace negotiations, no peace treaties would ever have been signed.

That sums up the situation. We realise the Minister for Foreign Affairs cannot achieve a political settlement tonight or that we cannot, acting alone, stimulate the great powers, the USSR, and the United States of America or indeed members of the Security Council to do it.

We must add our voice to that of other small peace loving nations which have a certain credence in what we have been doing in the area of finding peaceful solutions. We have sent our Army into the occupied part of Lebanon as a peace keeping force. From the reports of missionaries, and people who have worked in the refugee camps, we are quite conscious of the major problem that has to be addressed in this area. By highlighting the extraordinary level of violence engaged in by the Israeli armed forces when dealing with civilians, and by giving the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Members an opportunity to express our views, our concern and our utter condemnation of this atrocity, we will heighten the awareness of other nations in Europe and at the United Nations that an international peace conference is now of cardinal importance and that we should all work together towards achieving such a conference. If we can do that and if UNRWA are allowed to continue to carry out unobstructed their mission of mercy in the Middle East a political settlement could be furthered. We would hope that that process would eliminate the necessity for the widespread and indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians. Most of those killed are really only children. Such a process, too, would achieve a level of identification with the Palestinians and their cause and their legitimate representatives, the PLO, and show them that somebody is concerned about them at a level outside the Middle East, and that might take demonstrators off the streets and might allow sufficient time to elapse in order to achieve some settlement.

I want to allow other Members to express their concern about this. I hope the Minister will be positive in his response on the Government's attitude to the present catastrophe.

Mr. Lanigan

I join with Senator Ferris in thanking the Minister for Foreign Affairs for coming into the House and thereby allowing us have a discussion on this matter.

The problems being confronted by the people on the West Bank and Gaza over the past fortnight or three weeks could have been foreseen if we go back into the history of the occupation of these areas. The sevens are the important landmark numbers in the history of that area: the Balfour declaration of 1917, the Partition Plan of 1947, the Occupation of the West Bank of 1967 and this year, 1987, it would appear as if at last the people on the West Bank and in Gaza are being motivated to fight back against the atrocities of the Israeli State.

Abba Eban the Leader of the Labour Party in the Israeli Parliament said during the week that the only way in which the problem could be resolved was by disengaging the army. He is right. There is no question that Mr. Shamir was wrong when he said that the occupants of the West Bank and Gaza were mindless in their attitude, that they were committing atrocities against people in the area and that they had to be put down. Young people in the area have got fed up of the lifestyle they have. They live in a deprived area. We hear a lot about the conditions of the black population in South Africa but people in the refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza live in far worse conditions than those of the black population in South Africa. There is no semblance of normal living in these over-crowded camps. The accommodation is very bad. Sewerage facilities, lighting and facilities generally in the camps are very inadequate.

The incidents on the West Bank started when a young girl was shot by settlers who were in the area illegally. Resolution 242 of 1967 stated that the Israelis should withdraw and, unfortunately, there was a mistake made in the drafting of that Resolution when it said "from territories occupied" and did not say "the territories occupied." This is one of the problems we have to admit to. The people on the West Bank will not continue to allow themselves to be butchered nor are they prepared to live in the deprived conditions in which they have to live. They live in conditions worse than those that we would provide for our animals. Those people are at the end of their tether.

The Israeli Prime Minister has tried to justify what the army are doing in breaking up what could be considered to be small riots. The army are breaking them up not, in the traditional way — by the use of excessive force with water cannon and so forth — but by using live ammunition and they are killing people. The UNRWA officials at the Khan Yunis camp — they do not often openly criticise what happens — have said that another cause of the conflict in the area was the fact that the Israeli soldiers were seen urinating into the water supply at the Khan Yunis refugee camp. The refugee camp water supply is inadequate and nobody in their right minds could justify the actions of the Israeli soldiers in that area. There will have to be a political settlement to the problems the Palestinians have on the West Bank, Gaza, and in those areas throughout the world where they are dispersed. There will have to be a United Nations sponsored conference on the problems of the Middle East and of the Palestinians in particular. There is no point in suggesting that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation who represent the vast majority of Palestinians will go away.

The suggestion of an international conference on the question of Palestine has had reasonable acceptance throughout the world but, as Senator Ferris has said, Israel will not talk to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. If there is going to be a resolution of this problem they will have to talk to them.

The people of the West Bank and Gaza — hundreds of thousands are living in desperate conditions — are at the end of their tether. They look to nations like Ireland which has a good record in that area for help and support to try to resolve the problems that they are confronted with daily. It is very hard for people in Ireland or in Europe to understand the problems that are associated with living in refugee camps for the past 40 years now. The refugee camps are there for a long number of years. The UNRWA people — and I am delighted there are so many fine Irish people involved in their operation — do the best they can to keep some semblance of order, education, relief and welfare in these camps, but they can only do a little. They cannot really help the people who live in these camps. They can ward off day-to-day problems but they cannot help these people to live as they should be allowed to live.

I join with Senator Ferris and other Senators who have accepted this motion, and appeal to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to use his considerable influence not alone to attempt to resolve the immediate problems that are confronting the people on the West Bank and Gaza but to attempt, with all his might, to get the international conference on the question of Palestine brought to the fore in the United Nations and at European Community level in the near future.

An Leas-Chathaoirleach

There is a minute remaining. Does Senator Eogan wish to speak?

Professor Eogan

I will be brief. I want to say initially that this is an area I know reasonably well for close on 30 years, which is only about ten years after the foundation of the state of Israel. I went out initially, and I have been out many times since, not in any way to study or get involved with political problems, whether they were Jewish or Arab, but to deal with matters which were long pre-both Jews and Arabs.

Nevertheless, it soon became apparent that all was not well. Very soon I was introduced to my first example of man's inhumanity to man, these awful and horrible refugee camps where these displaced people — displaced from their homeland — were living in horrible conditions. Coming up to Christmas in the older days I remember it was the practice of the Israeli authorities to allow a limited number of Arabs to visit their relations on the West Bank. I remember the terrible scenes of emotion at the Mandlebaum Gate.

However, I do not want to go on dealing just with emotional matters. I would like to refer to current events which I would not in any way attribute simply to the work of hooligans, young hotblooded Arabs getting out of control. If this trouble has started — and it has started — in a very vigorous way it is simply due to the fact that we are dealing with a frustrated people, a people who have been deprived and seriously wronged, who have been treated as aliens in their native land.

The Palestinians, those who are still in Palestine, are forced to live under military occupation which is of a ruthless nature and I have witnessed some of this. I have witnessed the wiping out of villages — I was not personally present when they were wiped out but one year there was an attractive Arab village and it was gone the next year, literally wiped off the face of the earth. In addition, we have the use of very primitive acts such as flogging and, worse still, shooting. As bad as these physical events are, there are the psychological events, the fact that these Palestinians are living very much as second-class or third-class citizens in their own land.

Finally, I would like to say that there are the other offensive acts such as that reported in today's paper, for example, the Israeli Defence Minister moving into an apartment in Old Jerusalem. What is making all of this much worse is the heavy-handed attitude of the Israelis. Their military campaigns may have a short term effect but they are not going to have a long term effect. Like Senator Ferris and Senator Lanigan I, too, appeal to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to use his enormous skill and initiative in trying to encourage the setting up of a peace conference because it is only then that the problem will be resolved.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Lenihan)

This is an area in which I took a particular interest during the previous period when I was Minister for Foreign Affairs and was very closely associated with the Venice Declaration which laid down the parameters of the Community recognition of the role of the PLO and, in conjunction with the recognition of the integrity of Israel and all other states in the area, the establishment of the Palestinian homeland.

Very little progress has been made since then. I feel that one of the factors on which we must rely now is the pressure of moral and democratic opinion throughout not alone the Community countries but the western world generally. That is why I thank Senator Ferris for his initiative in raising this matter and the other Senators for their contributions. Basically these tragic events — and I will not go into the detail of them because they are just inexcusable — which are a matter of wide international concern are a reflection of the whole attitude on the part of the Israeli state towards the occupied territories. This aspect is being considered by the United Nations Security Council at present.

As far as the European countries are concerned in the Community and the forum of European Political Co-operation, our attitude is quite clear. As recently as 5 December at the Copenhagen Summit we issued a statement and I participated in the drafting of it which states:

The Twelve confirm their desire for a negotiated solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict which would bring to the region a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in accordance with the principles set out in the Venice Declaration, and reiterate their support for an International Peace Conference under the auspices of the United Nations.

That is the only way forward because as long as the present situation of drift is allowed to continue, unfortunately there is a very grave danger of further events of this kind. As long as there is no negotiated settlement, then the Israeli forces feel free to move into the West Bank where there are very serious refugee situations involved that create their own problems. The imposition of harsh measures of crowd control, of a range of individual and collective punishments, such as administrative detentions, the forced closure of academic institutions including the University of Bethlehem — with which UCD has established strong links as part of a project funded jointly by Ireland and the European Community Commission — and the demolition of the homes of those suspected of being involved in militant activities, inevitably create their own escalatory problems which will lead to further violence.

Ireland's underlying approach — and we have put this point of view in the United Nations and European Political Co-operation to this issue — is the inadmissability of the acquisition of territory by force. This is what the Israeli state has done on the West Bank. A military occupation is temporary. It cannot give any permanent solution to the problem and it conveys no permanent rights whatever under the rules of international law. In effect, it amounts to a policy of annexation. For this reason we have consistently opposed the Israeli policy of imposing its structure of civil administration on the occupied territories and its continuing practice of opening new settlements in the territories. Unfortunately, the tragic events of recent days will be an ongoing factor unless this aspect is resolved and unless there is an international peace settlement in the area.

Apart from the violence caused, the rules of international law are being flouted by the State of Israel. Their persistent refusal to recognise and accept the obligations of the State, and the continuing catalogue of harsh security measures imposed on the civilian population, create the conditions for further tension, unrest and terrorism in these territories. The potential danger of such a situation is clearly illustrated by the recent events that have prompted the Senators to raise this matter on the Adjournment.

This climate of violence and anger is felt by the vast majority of Palestinians by reason of their deep-rooted sense of frustration caused by a total negation of their rights in this area and not just rights but the sense of total poverty and deprivation that exists in these occupied territories. We have always placed great importance on this aspect because as long as that is allowed to continue and fester there will be a recurrence of violence, tension and killing. The whole matter is so terrible that the only way to resolve it is to bring all the parties concerned to the conference table by way of an international conference.

We believe the fundamental rights and well-being of the Palestinian population can only be protected in the context of such a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the whole Arab-Israeli conflict. This view is shared by all our partners in the Twelve. Indeed, the recent tragic events in Gaza and on the West Bank further emphasise the point of view that I have just mentioned. There is no other way in which this matter can be tackled unless there is a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region resulting from an agreed settlement which would be guaranteed fully, if necessary, by other powers. That is the only basis on which we can proceed.

It is not a basis that is in any way aimed at the Israeli state because the existence and security of that state must be guaranteed as well as the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and all that implies. The PLO have a legitimate role in the negotiation and implementation of such a settlement. The events of recent days have accentuated and emphasised in a very telling way — even though in a very harsh way — that the cycle of violence and repression must stop and that we must have an international peace conference in the area. It is in the interests of the major powers to have such a conference. Everything we can do, as a country and, more particularly within the sphere of the twelve member states of the Community and in the context of European Political Co-operation, will be done to achieve that. I hope in the New Year in Bonn to meet King Hussein who is coming to a meeting of European Political Co-operation under the German Presidency in January with a view to seeking to establish practical ways and mechanisms of getting this process going, this process of talks and negotiations in which all parties would be involved.

We will seek to promote peace in the framework I have mentioned. Unless that is done there will be more — I do not want to sound too bleak — and possibly worse incidents of this kind because they flow inevitably from the irrational and volatile situation that has been created on the West Bank. The only way to achieve progress is by way of international agreement which will acknowledge the boundaries of existing states, including Israel and, at the same time, ensure that there is a homeland for the Palestinians and a process within which the PLO have their role to play.

The Seanad adjourned at 10.05 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 17 December 1987.