IPSC statement on Israeli election results

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday January 29, 2003 22:28 by Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign supportpalestine at ireland dot com PO Box 9124, Dublin 1 01-6770253

The IPSC, in a statement issued today, pointed to the misinformation put out by Israeli Labour Party leaders about peace talks at Camp David as the key reason for Sharon's victory, and called for protection for the Palestinian people. FÉDP: B'iad bréaga Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre Iosraelach mar gheall ar phróiséas na síochána a thug an bua do Sharon. Anois is gá muintir na gCríoch Gafa a chosaint.

(Full English text below)

Sé an t-aon toradh soileir ar na toghcháin Iosraelacha inné ná go bhfuil saoirse na bPalaistíneach agus an tsíocháin idir Palaistínigh agus Iosraelaigh chomh fada uainn agus a bhí roimhe. Tuilleadh de réimeas Sharon atá roghnaithe ag lucht vótála Iosraela cé gur theip sé siúd dóibh de réir mar a theip do gach éinne a bhí ag tnúth le comhréiteach cothrom agus inmharthana idir Iosrael agus na Palaistínigh.

Caithfear an cheist a chur: cad ina thaobh seo? Is leir ó phobalbhreitheanna Iosraelacha go bhfuil tromlach go leanúnach i bhfábhar na cóilíneachtaí a thréigeadh agus bunú stáit Phalaistínigh ar an Bhruach Thiar agus ar Stráice Ghaza. Cad é mar is féidir go vóltálfadh tromlach do Sharon nó do pháirtithe na heite deise nach bhfuil suim dá laghad acu ina leithéid?

Séard is cúis leis seo ná go bhfuil bréaga insithe do phobal Iosraela ag a gceammairí féin. Tar éis comhchaibidlí Camp David dúirt Ehud Barak le pobal Iosraela agus leis an saol mór go raibh sé tar éis ‘tairiscint flaithiúlach’ a thabhairt do na Palaistínigh agus gur diúltaíodh leis. Tar éis dó toghcháin Eanáir 2001 a chailleadh, mhaigh sé gur fhreagair na Palaistínigh an fhlaithiúlacht seo leis an fhoréigean agus gur leir uaidh sin nach raibh aon pháirtí ag Iosrael do phróiséas na síochána.

Tá miotas seo an tairisceana fhlaithiúla bréagnaithe ó shin sna cuntais a thug idirghabhálaithe Meiriceánacha agus Eorpacha mar gheall ar na comhchaibidlí ag Camp David agus ag Taba na hÉigipte. Ach cloíonn ceannasaithe Páirtí an Lucht Oibre Iosraelach, fiú Amram Mitzna, leis i gcónaí. Nuair a thugann ceannasaíocht an pháirtí atá in ainm is a bheith ar son na síochána agus an chomhréitithe a leithéid le fios don phobal, ní cúis iontais go roghnaíonn an pobal ceannasaíocht atá i bhfábhar straitéise mílití seachas comhchaibidlíocht.

Níl againn mar dhóchas anois ach go dtiocfaidh deireadh gasta le rialtas nua Sharon agus go mbeidh an Lucht Oibre macánta leis an phobal an chéad bhabhta eile agus go ndéarfaidh gur gá cinnithe pianmhara ach gur féidir teacht ar comhréiteach leis na Palaistínigh. Idir an dá linn is baolach go bhfulangóidh muintir na gCríoch Gafa a thuilleadh ionsaithe míliteacha órialtas nua Sharon agus iarrann muid ar Rialtas na hÉireann pé rud is féidir a dhéanamh chun cosaint idirnáisiúnta a fháil dóibh.

The one clear result to date of yesterday’s Israeli elections is that peace and freedom for the Palestinians, and a resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, are no nearer than before. The Israeli voters have chosen a continuation of Sharon’s disastrous rule, which failed them just as much as it failed all those who hoped to see a just and durable settlement between Israel and the Palestinian people.

The question that must be asked is: why has this happened? Israeli opinion polls consistently show a majority in favour of evacuating the settlements and accepting the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. How did it come to pass that a majority also voted for Sharon or other right-wing parties with no interest in this?

The fact is that the people of Israel have been betrayed by their own leaders. Ehud Barak, after the Camp David negotiations, told the people of Israel and the world that he had made a generous offer to the Palestinians and it had been rejected. After the January 2001 elections, he claimed that his generosity had been reciprocated with Palestinian violence and that it was therefore clear that Israel had no partner in the peace process.

The accounts of the Camp David and subsequent Taba negotiations given by American and EU intermediaries have since given the lie to the myth of Barak’s “generous offer”, but the leadership of the Israeli Labour Party has never repudiated it. Barak, Peres and now Amram Mitzna have all continued to peddle this line, even while Mitzna spoke of evacuating most of the West Bank. When the leadership of what should have been Israel’s pro-peace party gave Israelis this inaccurate counsel of despair, it is hardly surprising that voters opted for a leadership which was crystal clear about preferring a military strategy over negotiating with the Palestinians.

The best hope at the moment is that the next Sharon government will not last and that the Labour Party will be willing to be honest with the Israeli electorate at the next elections and tell them that painful concessions must be made but that an agreed settlement with the Palestinians is possible. In the meantime, the IPSC calls on the Irish Government to take as strong as possible a stand for the protection of the Palestinian people from the renewed assaults of a Sharon government.