by Miceál O’Hurley
ANTALYA (TÜRKIYE) — Diplomacy in Ireland – European Diplomat’s Editor-in-Chief Miceál O’Hurley was granted 2-questions during a press conference held by His Excellency Dr. Riyad al-Maliki, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine this week. Dr. al-Maliki was in Antalya, Türkiye for the Antalya Diplomacy Forum 2024. This third-iteration of the ADF included heads of state, ministers, diplomats and academics from 79 countries, with more than 4,500 attendees meeting under the theme ‘Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil’.
O’Hurley asked, “Ireland has been very supportive of the Palestinian people. We’ve advocated for an immediate cease fire. What can Ireland and countries across Europe do to agitate for Israel to finally adopt a 2-state solution which Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he is entirely opposed to but which we believe is essential to peace and stability in the region.”
Dr. al-Maliki’s answer is instructive – Ireland’s Oireachtas, consisting of its lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann, and its Upper House, Seanad Éireann, have each passed motions declaring Ireland’s recognition of the State of Palestine. Notwithstanding, the Irish Government has continuously blocked implementation of those motions. According to Dr. al-Maliki, Ireland and other “like minded countries” must act of their own accord and finally recognise the Palestinian State as waiting on the Israeli Government has led to nothing but further conflict.
EDITORIAL OPINION Palestine enjoys strong support in Ireland and has for decades. In 2014, both Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann decided to formalise diplomatic relations with Palestine and recognise it as a State. Despite both Houses of the Oireachtas endorsing the recognition of Palestinian Statehood the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael coalition government has repeatedly resisted all efforts to bring the will of the Irish people into force. Government has claimed it would be counter-productive for Ireland to unilaterally recognise Palestinian Statehood maintaining it should only be done as part of a unified commitment within the EU. Repeatedly, Government has used the engineered phrase, "Recognising Palestine would tend to isolate Ireland". This absurdity can no longer be countenanced in light of the world-wide support garnered by South Africa's case being heard in The Hague. Even Israel's most staunch supporter, the United States, has reached their point of exhaustion with Israel and have called for a cease-fire along with 153-member States in the UN. It is only in 'the theatre of the absurd' that the Irish Government can continue to claim that supporting the people of Palestine would isolate us. The world stands with Palestine and it is time for Ireland to make our support more than rhetorical and act in real terms. Time has long passed for the Irish Government to recall that it derives its legitimacy and authority from will of its people, and in so doing at long-last recognise Palestinian Statehood. The urgency is as great as any time since the Balfour Declaration set in-place a series of events that has caused endless suffering for the Palestinian people. Waiting for others in the EU to make the decision on the timing and implementation of recognition of a Palestinian State is an abject abdication of the powers, duties and trust that arises from the democratic will of the Irish people. Frankly, it not only flies in the face of the fundamental premise of our Republic and abnegates the legal responsibility of Government to serve the sovereign people of Ireland but demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the continued plight of the Palestinian people. It is a black mark on our collective humanity. The time for moral courage is now. Ireland must resolve to act by recognising Palestine in establishing bilateral relations on an equal footing. History will be a harsh judge of an Ireland that cried-out for recognition during our 800-years of dark colonial occupation, where Irish lives were deemed to have inferior (if any) rights and our land confiscated at whim. We cannot hold ourselves aloof from our ethical, moral and legal obligations refusing to take the reasonable step of following the will of the Irish people as voiced in our elected representatives that voted affirmatively, and overwhelmingly to recognise the State of Palestine. Given the likelihood of an election this autumn, and without any indication that Israel is prepared to cease their warfare that has caused such horrific casualties amongst the Palestinian people to the point where children are daily dying from hunger and dehydration, Ireland’s political parties must recall that the electorate will have the final say in their continued mandate. The plight of the Palestinian people, although a foreign policy matter, is a personal matter to many domestic Irish households. It is unlikely that votes will be cast in favour of maintaining a Government that denies their will. Ireland must be its better self and demonstrate leadership by overturning Netanyahu’s virtual veto over a 2-State Solution. Obeying the will of the Irish people and Oireachtas and recognising the State of Palestine will prove to be the catalyst for peace that equivocation and indecision has failed to provide for more than 100-years. It has now become the editorial policy of this publication to refer to Gaza and the West Bank collectively as the 'State of Palestine' in recognition of the overwhelming votes by Dail Eireann and Seanad Eireann for Ireland to finally establish diplomatic relations and recognise the reality that already exists - Palestine is a State.
At 36:10 minutes into the press conference Miceal O’Hurley again was granted another question for Dr. al-Maliki. O’Hurley asked about the hypocrisy in the U.S. condemning Russia’s occupation of Ukraine but accepting the Israeli occupation of Palestine; and, the disparity between democracy requiring the will and consent of the people in the entirety of the world except in Palestine and if Dr. al-Maliki felt the U.S. was developing an “appetite” to develop a more consistent foreign policy with regard to the de-occupation of Palestine. Dr. al-Maliki’s response can be viewed in its entirety in the video which includes a transcript.
The entire press conference is worthwhile. Of note was Dr. al-Maliki’s insistence that the Palestinian Authority is already organised and on-the-ground in Gaza and intends to discharge its duties to the Palestinian people as soon as a cessation of hostilities allows. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s has insisted that the Palestinian Authority would not play a role in a post-conflict Gaza is instructive. Little thought seems to have been given to reconstruction by Israel except for it presenting an opportunity for the further illegal expansion of Israeli settlements.
Beyond the staggering death-toll suffered by the Palestinian people the situation has become all the more alarming by Israel’s ‘War Cabinet’ plans to build another 3,476 settler homes in the West Bank colonies of Maale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar. Netanyahu’s government has pursued a policy of expanding settlements in occupied territories in contravention of international law.
Despite the Biden Administration claiming they have acted as a positive agent to restrain Israel, Netanyau’s government approved more homes being built as part of their ever-expanding settlements in the West Bank less than 2-weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed the Israelis that any settlement expansion would be “counterproductive to reaching enduring peace” with the Palestinians.
According to the UN, Israel’s creation and expansion of settlements amounted to the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into occupied territories. “Such transfers amount to a war crime that may engage the individual criminal responsibility of those involved,” said Voker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. According to Turk, some 24,300 housing units were added to existing, illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank between November 2022 and October 2023. That figure includes some 9,700 new Israeli housing units in East Jerusalem. The expansion of Israeli settlements marks the largest number of record since UN monitoring began in 2017.
“Settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state,” Turk warned. The UN High Commissioner’s Report found there had been 602 settler attacks against Palestinians just since 7 October, when Hamas’s attack inside Israel, leading to war in Gaza. The UN rights office said it had documented nine Palestinians killed by settlers using firearms, and another 396-Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces. Another 2 Palestinians were killed by either Israeli security forces or settlers.
Turk’s report found that the Israeli government’s policies “…appear aligned, to an unprecedented extent, with the goals of the Israeli settler movement to expand long-term control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to steadily integrate this occupied territory into the State of Israel”.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right Israeli cabinet official, has asserted, “[the] voluntary migration [of Palestinians in Gaza] is the right humanitarian solution” for the Palestinian people. Smotrich made the comments following his fellow-Knesset members Danny Danon, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, and Ram Ben-Barak, former Deputy Director of Mossad, publishing a commentary in The Wall Street Journal in November 2023 urging Palestinians in Gaza to be relocated to nations that will accept them.
Israel’s policies have every appearance of forced-migration for the purposes of Israel annexing Gaza to expand its territorial claims and further dispossess the Palestinian people. Such conduct is a violation of international law.
