How Ireland can contribute to Israeli-Palestinian resolution - opinion

In his article, “Ireland’s push to encourage progress,” Ambassador O’Sullivan claimed when addressing the conflict the “Irish government tries always to speak respectfully and carefully, but also in the belief that honesty to a friend is a true sign of respect.” Honesty and truth is a theme of Ireland’s foreign minister who recently critically urged the UK government “to show some honesty” when addressing difficulties resulting from the contentious Northern Ireland protocol which is part of the UK/EU Brexit deal.

The problem with all of this is that the Irish government and parliament’s obsessive, selectively critical, hostile anti-Israeli narrative is economical with the truth, displays little honesty and entirely lacks respect. If the encouraged “progress” is designed to contribute to the demonization and delegitimization of Israel and lend international credibility to the malign narratives of Iran, Syria, Turkey, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and their fellow travelers, it is right on the button. If the encouraged “progress” is to bring about “a two state solution,” rightly referenced by the ambassador as “the only workable and decent” solution to the conflict, it deliberately ignores the multiplicity of difficulties that currently act as obstacles to such a solution and simply singles out Israeli settlements and Israel for blame for lack of progress. 

For the Irish government to make a truly beneficial contribution, an entirely different approach should be adopted. The nihilistic politics of condemnation and megaphone diplomacy should end as should the occasional use of Twitter by Coveney for ill-considered, reactive pronouncements. Twitter is not a medium through which conflict resolution, peace and reconciliation has ever been achieved. It is, however, a medium too frequently used to disseminate misinformation, spread hate, feed prejudice, heighten tension and either trigger or justify violence, death and destruction.

 So what contribution to “progress” could Ireland make to the benefit of both Israelis and Palestinians? Show some real honesty, speak the full truth to both sides and reinforce that truth in public commentary. Use truth telling to lay sound domestic political foundations for beneficial engagement and to call out Irish legislators and pro-Palestinian activists whose fact free rhetoric exacerbates division and too frequently strays into antisemitism. Regard doing so as a vital component to gain international credibility and to be understood by both sides to be a good faith actor and not simply a partisan cheerleader. 

Listen more carefully to what both Israelis and Palestinians say about their fears and aspirations, develop a better understanding of the conflict, its many components, layers and complexity, the malign role of outside actors, such as Iran, and end Ireland’s collaboration in conflict escalation. Finally, take seriously the Biden administration’s more nuanced approach and President Biden’s straightforward statement “that until the region says unequivocally they acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as an independent Jewish state, there will be no peace.” Put simply, Biden’s insightful message is that to achieve permanent peace, not only all states in the region but also the disparate warring Palestinian factions, including those intent on Israel’s destruction, must accept and internalize the legitimacy of Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state.

The Irish government will not be credible nor relevant until it stops ignoring the real obstacles to conflict resolution. At their core is a complete lack of trust between the parties and the absence of any structure through which trust and relationships can be built. There is also the inconvenient fact that the Israeli government has no party with whom to currently negotiate which credibly and democratically represents Palestinians residing in east Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank and which has any real prospect of obtaining substantial Palestinian public support for any peaceful resolution that involves any compromise of Palestinian and Israeli demands. 

While expressing legitimate concern about the plight of those living in Gaza, the Irish government should stop ignoring internal Palestinian division and the reality that for 14 years Gaza and the West Bank have been ruled as two separate Palestinian entities by acrimonious Palestinian factions (Hamas & Fatah) who are incapable of agreeing between themselves on the parameters of any resolution with Israel. The crucial need for Palestinian elections to give democratic legitimacy to Palestinian governance and leadership needs to be prioritized as does the need for Palestinian administrations to observe the rule of law in both Gaza and the West Bank.

WHILE RIGHTLY criticizing Israel on occasion when members of the IDF or Israeli police overreact and violate Palestinian human rights, the Irish government needs to correct its multiple failures to critically address Palestinian violation of Israelis’ and Palestinians’ human rights, the murder by Palestinian factions of their Palestinian critics and opponents, the jailing and denigrating of Palestinian peace activists for engaging with Israeli peace activists, the military training and arming of children by Palestinian militant factions and the use of Palestinian civilians, including children, as human shields when firing rockets from within civilian locations.

 As other EU states have done, the Irish government should also address aspects of the Palestinian education system, partly financed by Ireland, which a recent EU-published report confirms encourages child martyrdom, glorifies terrorist atrocities and teaches narratives designed to escalate division and conflict instead of encouraging greater understanding, peaceful engagement and conflict resolution. The Irish government should also clarify whether its trenchant criticism of “Israeli settlements” in east Jerusalem and the West Bank and its depiction of them as “de facto annexation” is obtuse diplomatese advocating those territories be Judenrein.

Ambassador O’Sullivan’s article referenced the deep impression left by the violence and conflict, including terrorist violence, that afflicted Ireland, especially Northern Ireland in the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. What he omitted to mention and what the Irish government consistently fails to apply when it “speaks up” are any of the crucial lessons learned from that conflict. 

Crucial ingredients of the Irish peace process include deescalating conflict, terrorism ending, promoting cross community relationship building, encouraging dialogue, reconciliation and economic cooperation. The International Fund for Ireland (IFI), an independent organization established by the British and Irish governments and co-funded by the US, EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has substantially contributed to achieving these objectives since 1986 and its work continues. The US Congress last December, with bipartisan support, enacted the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act modeled on the IFI. $250 million is prescribed over a five year period for projects that support peace building, reconciliation and greater cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians and to create Palestinian jobs and bolster the Palestinian economy. There is also a framework for an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

The Act is designed to positively apply the lessons learned in Ireland as essential for a peace process to succeed. Neither the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas can receive any part of the fund. Monies can be allocated to non-governmental and civil society organizations as well as start-ups that contribute to laying foundations for a lasting peace, reconciliation, trust, partnership and economic cooperation between the two peoples. The Fund is not designed as a US dominated or controlled initiative. Its provisions envisage other states both contributing and participating in it’s governance.

Its primary objective is to bring Israelis and Palestinians closer together and build peace from the ground up. It provides a structure to overcome the current political paralysis and all reliance being placed on political elites in the distant future announcing an agreement destined to fail, drowned in a tsunami of suspicion, misunderstanding and hostility. If the Irish government truly wants to contribute to peace building and reconciliation it should agree that Ireland contributes to the fund, encourage the EU to do so and Ireland and the EU should participate in its governance. 

In his article Ambassador O’Sullivan urged “Israel and the Palestinians to enter into direct talks sooner rather than later and to take the hard decisions to find a solution.” The truth is there is no quick fix solution and there are many obstacles that must be first overcome. Lessons learned from the Irish peace process teach us that. Ireland toning down the rhetoric and contributing to and participating in the governance of the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace can help lay a new foundation for a permanent future peace which can also bring some immediate benefits. A further positive step would be for Ireland to end the use of Irish Aid by Irish NGOs to escalate division and redirect its use to NGOs dedicated to encouraging and facilitating Israeli/Palestinian dialogue and reconciliation.