Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs - 21st March 2006

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs - Presentation on Middle East Peace Process - 21st March 2006
Senator Norris: I echo what the two previous speakers said. Deputy Higgins has not lost the fire in his belly, although he has said he has grown old in this discussion. It is extremely important to ensure the political health of this country that there are people active in public life who keenly feel the need for international standards. Tragically, the lesson is absolutely clear — human rights do not matter a damn. This comes from the very top, from George W. Bush and his acolytes in Israel. Believe me when I say I am not against either America or Israel in terms of what those countries have stood for. However, I have grave problems because it has been made utterly clear that human rights do not matter. They are a tissue of nonsense on which we can trample.
The briefing note states, “The US and Israel have made it clear they will not negotiate with a government which contains elements that have not renounced violence”. These are the two most violent, aggressive, militaristic states on the planet, yet they are coy about entering discussions with similarly tainted persons on the other side. The Palestinian people could now turn the Israeli slogan on its head by saying they do not have a partner for peace either.
I turn to the outrage in Jericho and I am very glad my three colleagues raised the matter. I am sorry the Houses of the Oireachtas did not meet last week because we should have discussed it then. Contemplate the fact that this civilian institution in a separate state is subjected to an illegal attack. There are prisoners who are confined and whose movements are restricted, with no possibility of escape. They are treated to an attack that features missiles from helicopter gunships, shells from tanks and heavy machine-gun fire from infantry. This was done with the clear, callous and obvious collaboration of the United States and Britain. I condemn the people who left the jail. They were not fit to be there in the first place as observers or protectors if, at the first whiff of the possibility that the Israelis might turn up, they turned tail and fled. Shame on them. They had no business being there. Among other matters, they were present to protect the civilian inmates of the prison. It is a disgrace to them and both governments that they collaborated with the Israeli authorities. What about the two people who died in the incident? Did they have any rights or is it the case that human and civil rights do not matter?
I understand Deputy Higgins’s suggestion of using monitors. I am growing old in this business of analysing the painful and agonising situation in the Middle East because I have people I love on both sides of this terrible civil conflict. However, it has moved way beyond monitors. For Christ’s sake, what do we need to see further? We have seen the bombing of civilian prisons.
The text of the external association agreement between Israel and the European Union refers to a series of human rights protocols. I have been raising this issue at this committee and not just within the past year. The Chairman may be able to refresh my memory but I think I proposed a motion that we look for implementation of those human rights protocols. I do not think we need a monitor; the evidence could not possibly be clearer. The European Union has no interest in human rights, otherwise it would not tolerate the position taken by Israel in this disgraceful attack or the position taken by the United States on Iraq.
The wall is monstrous. We should be hauling Cement Roadstone before this committee to explain the reason Irish owned and controlled cement is being used in its construction but I will not hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
I wish to make a general point on the subject of the Middle East. I do not know whether the careers of our three friends would survive an honest answer to this question. What was the Minister, Deputy Cullen, doing in New York on St. Patrick’s Day? As an Irish citizen and a taxpayer, I am disgusted that an Irish Cabinet Minister should stand in New York to review returning troops of the 69th brigade who, among other matters, were involved in attacks on journalists in which a number of Italians and other civilians were killed. He took the salute, thereby aligning clearly the Government which is supposed to be neutral with the——
Chairman: I ask the Senator to return to the question of Palestine and Israel.
Senator Norris: I am talking about the Middle East.
Chairman: No, we are talking about Palestine and Israel.
Senator Norris: I am talking about the Middle East and the general moral framework. I do not care if it is a painful subject. These questions should be asked.
Chairman: They have been asked.
Senator Norris: It is all related. There would not be such a severe mess in the Middle East if people like Mr. Sharon who is now asleep and Mr. Olmert did not realise, because of the grand strategic plan of the neo-con thinkers in Washington, that they are protected.