Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs - 31st January 2008 - Palestinian Development and Humanitarian Aid

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs - 31st January 2008 Palestinian Development and Humanitarian Aid: Discussion with Irish NGOs and Irish Aid. ^
Senator David Norris: I welcome this morning's meeting and the contributions that have been made. I wish to put on the record that I have long supported the right of the state of Israel to exist and challenged the obscenity that is anti-Semitism whether it occurs here, in Europe or the Middle East. I feel I must put this on the record and show my credentials because I am highly critical of the Israeli Government and its policies and the European Union.
Deputy Higgins clearly made his point on the significance of the Palestinian election; we may not like Hamas but, having heard of à la carte Catholicism, this matter has given an example of à la carte democracy. We have refused to recognise the perfectly legitimate and internationally validated election of a legitimate authority, simply because we do not like it. In my book that puts a very peculiar gloss on democracy. I understand Mr. McMahon's difficulties but I find the following statement coy:
Irish Aid has also contributed towards public service salaries in Palestine, including teachers' salaries. This amounted to €1 million last year and was channelled through a temporary mechanism managed by the European Commission.
That was a squalid deal that was let out and the attitude of the European Union was utterly shameful. The international community, particularly the European Union and our Government, has signally failed to vindicate the bare, essential human rights of the Palestinian people. This is why I feel outraged about this situation.
The people in Gaza have had an appalling time and I know this because I have visited the area and know it reasonably well. The conditions there are shocking. I have condemned the rocket attacks emanating from the area but they are the responsibility of maverick mobile units that do not necessarily represent the local population. Members of these units disperse as soon as the rockets are fired and the Israelis then hit back at local civilians, resulting in terror.
There has been a deliberate, callous and continuous strangulation of Gaza. An Israeli Minister said those in Gaza will not die as a result but will only lose some weight and I find this comment shameful. That individual should have been severely chastised for making a joke of the suffering of others. Ireland is complicit in what I believe is a war crime because under Article 4 of the Geneva Convention collective punishment, which this is, is defined as such. The difference is that these mobile units are not an official organ of a Palestinian state; they are rogue elements that are condemned by the international community. My problem with the Israeli response to the situation in Gaza is that military actions and actions by civilian authorities, such as the closing of power stations, are carried out with the political sanction of the Israeli Government and are supported by that state's armed forces. In my book this is a distinction that should be recognised.
The need for action was mentioned and I have been criticised by people who strongly support the state of Israel for making certain recommendations in the past. For example, I suggested that the human rights protocols attached to the external association agreement between Israel and the European Union should be applied. An even milder suggestion is that we should establish a monitoring mechanism; what is the point of having human rights protocols if we ignore war crimes? Can we at least establish a mechanism to monitor the human rights situation in the light of events in Gaza? Is this too much to ask? Are we afraid of knowing what is going on?
The cutting of electricity supply to Gaza does not merely result in people sitting in the dark and missing their favourite television programmes; it results in infants dying in incubators, elderly people having respirators switched off and vaccines perishing because they are not properly refrigerated. It is not a question of discomfort and people losing a bit of weight, it is a question of people dying and we have a responsibility in this matter. It is tragic for the people of Palestine that Gaza has become for them the equivalent of the land of bondage. As Deputy Higgins and others asked, what sort of conditions must exist when half the population of a territory escapes through a breach in a wall?
My distinguished colleague, Deputy Shatter, asked whether the wall has affected suicide bombings. It appears that it has and I welcome every life that is saved. I used to get the bus home next door to the Sbarro pizzeria where an entire family was wiped out by a suicide bombing so I am not on the side of the bombers. However, the same result would have been achieved had the wall been built legally on Israeli territory, rather than being used in a massive illegal land grab. This is where I have problems with the wall. Had it been built legally the Israeli Government would not have been able to incorporate illegal settlements into Israeli territory. This is the answer to Deputy Shatter's question on the issue.
There is also a question of disproportionality. There are remarkable people in Israel of whom I have spoken previously in this committee. Physicians for Human Rights includes the most distinguished doctors in Israel who queue in rain and mud to treat their fellow human beings in these camps. These doctors are mocked by mere squirts of soldiers of 18 years of age. I ask those present today to consider what their feelings would be if confronted by the kinds of incidents recounted by Richard Crowley in his splendid recent book on this situation. He tells of a Palestinian farmer, who was not politically active and whose family had inhabited the area for many generations, who was stopped and arbitrarily refused permission to visit the next village by two people, a Russian and an American. He was a human being in his own land.
I suggest to the Chairman that a group from this committee could visit the area as one did previously.
Chairman: I will come to that matter.
Senator David Norris: As the Chairman may know, I have been involved in two illegally settled occupied villages, Susya and At-Tuwani in south Hebron, through my former partner, Ezra Yitzhak Nawi. The people there are deprived of precisely what we have spoken of - clean water, electricity and basic medical services. A programme has been established to change this. I held a fundraising event and, thanks to the generosity of the Irish people, I am delighted to say €55,000 was raised to help the villages, some of which was channelled through Trócaire. I have received pictures of the wind-based electricity generators and solar panels that are now there and clean water is accessible but I am afraid the Israelis will demolish all this. Deputy Shatter has asked what has happened to these projects and the money involved but this is a question he could legitimately direct at the Israeli Embassy. Many projects have been destroyed and I would like this committee to extend its protection to the villages of Susya and At-Tuwani to ensure basic resources there for ordinary, non-political people are safeguarded. I do not feel this destruction should go without strong criticism from this committee. We should be vigilant of developments in these villages as they are representative of the bigger issue.
It is a tragic situation and I sympathise with both sides; I know the town of Stirot and so on. We must ensure that there is proportionality.

We have absolutely failed to vindicate the human rights of Palestinians at the most basic level. Only through their vindication will we be able to move towards peace for both peoples of that troubled land.