Government Upgrades Palestinian Delegation to a Mission

OhNoYouDidn't

One step down from full embassy status.

Great news, a rare good piece of work from the Government.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0125/mideast.html

Overheal

Delegates are now Missonaries?

man.about.town

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

One step down from full embassy status.

Great news, a rare good piece of work from the Government.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0125/mideast.html

thats not good news, hamas are terrorists, why not give the ira immunity while there at it

Overheal

man.about.town wrote: »

thats not good news, hamas are terrorists, why not give the ira immunity while there at it

Whether they are or not, what harm is there in solidifying more diplomatic channels?

LeixlipRed

man.about.town wrote: »

thats not good news, hamas are terrorists, why not give the ira immunity while there at it

Tony Blair and George Bush are terrorists. Shall I expand the list?

Iwasfrozen

Overheal wrote: »

Whether they are or not, what harm is there in solidifying more diplomatic channels?

Oh come off it, this is as much about giving two fingers to Israel as it is about opening diplomatic relations with Palestine.

GuanYin

ROFL at the Ireland's 'long-standing biased policy on the Middle East' bit.

Is there a country out there with a less biased middle east policy than Israel?

P. Breathnach

It's interesting how RTÉ headlines its report:

Israel condemns Irish decision on Palestinians

Minister B

Perhaps, this is a measured response to the blatantly biased Israeli investigation into the flotilla murders?

I am no supporter of Hamas or any form of terroism, however, similarly I am no supporter of heavy handed national militaries.

I'm in favour of Palestine's diplomatic status.

paulaa

man.about.town wrote: »

thats not good news, hamas are terrorists, why not give the ira immunity while there at it

It's Fatah not Hamas that are in power in the West Bank. This is where the mission is. hamas are in charge in Gaza.

This is another step towards a State of Palestine being recognised by the world despite all of Israel's maneuvering to delay that fact.

Coillte_Bhoy

Well done whoever is responsible

Nodin

The Israeli comment

'This will only strengthen the Palestinians' rejection of any return to direct dialogue and peace negotiations.'

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0125/mideast.html

is rather funny, when you consider these
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/palestine-papers

sheesh

well in their own report on the Mavi Marmara incident they described the situation with hamas in the gaza strip as an international conflict (page 5 line 7 of this document under paragraph titled 'Does the naval blockade comply with the rules of international law?')

therefore the gaza strip has some quasi national standing. It is appropriate that Ireland have a mission there.

Don't get wrong I think both sides are pretty unpleasant. I used to but no longer subscribe to the Israel= bad/ palestinians= good line.

martic

man.about.town wrote: »

thats not good news, hamas are terrorists, why not give the ira immunity while there at it

Do you think that the Israeli's having an Ambassador here is good or bad? after all like Hamas, Fatah and the IRA the state of Israel was born out of an Isreali terrorist campaign against the British which involved a lot of innocent civilians being killed in bombings kidnappings and executions.

OhNoYouDidn't

Overheal wrote: »

Whether they are or not, what harm is there in solidifying more diplomatic channels?

Exactly.

Israel is on one hand professed to be committed to a two state solution yet at the same time criticising moves to formalise that. So logically we can question that commitment.

Overheal

Everytime we send a US representative over there they take the opportunity to expand development ahead of dialogs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031000683.html

They've displayed how much they are willing to pursue a solution - as long as it's one where they are the clear winners. It's no surprise more countries are strengthening ties with Palestine to look at solutions from the other side of the table.

paulaa

Over 100 countries now recognise the Palestinian State and as many more also have diplomatic relations with them.

I think the world is getting tired of Israel's transparent policies of stalling and sabotaging the peace talks. Their refusal to stop building illegal settlements on Occupied land is by far the biggest obstacle to peace.

Greed obviously more important than peace to Netanyahu and his followers and the policy of non violent protest that is being practiced by the Palestinians has shown them up for the land grabbing miscreants they are.

johnnyskeleton

Will they have full consulate powers?

Otherwise, any Irish person that goes for a holiday in the west bank and is mugged is in trouble. They won't let you into Jordan without a passport, and they certainly won't let you into Israel without a passport.

T runner

http://www.thejournal.ie/israel-enraged-by-irish-upgrade-for-palestinian-envoy-2011-01/

Micheal Martin has promoted a Palestinian delegation to Dublin to the "status" of mission. While falling short of recognising Palestine as a state. it means the head of the delegation is entitlrd to be "ambassador-head of mission".

This comes after Peru and other south american countries recognised Palestine as a state.

Israeli officials described Ireland as the most biased anti-israeli country in Europe, accusing us of long term bias.

I agree with this move by Martin. Its good to see teh government ahve been atleast getting something right in their tenure.

Oasis_Dublin

Israel should f*ck right off. Nobody cares. It would be hypocritical for an Irish nationalist party to dismiss the right of the Palestinian people to self-govern and I believe this is a step in the right direction.

Cookie_Monster

whats the point of this?
Does it cost anything more?
Do we get any benefits from having it there in the first place?

Honest question, I don't know, but can't really see ties with Palestine having a whole lot of obvious impact of us trade wise

Bottle_of_Smoke

Wonder will we be the first in EU to actually recognise them as a state. To be honest this is a bit of a shortfall.

Like the civil partnership bill, sure a step in the right direction but really not good enough.

T runner

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Honest question, I don't know, but can't really see ties with Palestine having a whole lot of obvious impact of us trade wise

Its about doing the right thing here not the most lucrative thing.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

whats the point of this?
Does it cost anything more?
Do we get any benefits from having it there in the first place?

Honest question, I don't know, but can't really see ties with Palestine having a whole lot of obvious impact of us trade wise

Its the right thing to do. An apartheid South Africa could very well suit us economically but its just well, not on.

paulaa

T runner wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/israel-enraged-by-irish-upgrade-for-palestinian-envoy-2011-01/

Micheal Martin has promoted a Palestinian delegation to Dublin to the "status" of mission. While falling short of recognising Palestine as a state. it means the head of the delegation is entitlrd to be "ambassador-head of mission".

This comes after Peru and other south american countries recognised Palestine as a state.

Israeli officials described Ireland as the most biased anti-israeli country in Europe, accusing us of long term bias.

I agree with this move by Martin. Its good to see teh government ahve been atleast getting something right in their tenure.

They like our passports, so we're ok

Manach

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

whats the point of this?
Does it cost anything more?
Do we get any benefits from having it there in the first place?

Honest question, I don't know, but can't really see ties with Palestine having a whole lot of obvious impact of us trade wise

Whilst I reckon that this Mission status with the Palestinian is a positive development and would hopefully strengthen their case in respect to the legal status of lands with the Israelis, I argued that Cookie_Monster questioning of the benefits is a valid. Cui bono for the Irish State, given our financial situation as is.
Moral standings are all well and good, but they do not balance the budget.

paulaa

Manach wrote: »

Whilst I reckon that this Mission status with the Palestinian is a positive development and would hopefully strengthen their case in respect to the legal status of lands with the Israelis, I argued that Cookie_Monster questioning of the benefits is a valid. Cui bono for the Irish State, given our financial situation as is.
Moral standings are all well and good, but they do not balance the budget.

Doing the right thing doesn't cost anything most of the time.

I'm really tired of this "What's in it for me" attitude that is so prevalent in this country for the last few years. Our politicians are a good example of it and look where they have taken us.

LeixlipRed

Next up, expel the Israeli Consul until Israel agrees to stop breaking international law by building settlements in the territories. I wait with baited breath.

Zebra3

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Will they have full consulate powers?

Otherwise, any Irish person that goes for a holiday in the west bank and is mugged is in trouble. They won't let you into Jordan without a passport, and they certainly won't let you into Israel without a passport.

Been in the WB and went through checkpoints of the occupying Israeli forces and there was no checks for passports.