An immediate ceasefire in Lebanon must be accompanied by a serious political process to stabilise the situation in the long term, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said today.
Avril Doyle MEP
Speaking before EU foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Brussels, Mr Ahern said he felt there had been a lot of focus on the Israeli tactics, but he said there have to be efforts to make Hizbullah stop firing rockets at targets in the north of the Jewish state.
The Minister said the majority of EU member states want an immediate ceasefire, although the Czech Republic, Germany and Britain seem to be holding out on the type of position adopted by the Americans and Israelis.
"The EU has an opportunity to come out with a united voice on this," Mr Ahern said.
He was also critical of the international community's response to the now 20-day old conflict in Lebanon. "Last week's meeting in Rome was a big disappointment," he added.
There was disunity, and this allowed an Israeli cabinet minister to come and say the International community had given them a green light to Israel to continue, Mr Ahern said.
"It is a sad indictment of the international community, especially the larger ones [countries] that we have not been able to agree," he said
Mr Ahern also said the EU has to find a way to have real engagement with Syria, stating that in terms of who had influence over Hizbullah, that country was "pulling the strings".
Ireland is one of the countries calling for an immediate and total ceasefire in Lebanon at the emergency meeting in Brussels today. "The people of Lebanon, and the people of Israel affected by this, cannot wait any longer," Mr Ahern said.
He said that an immediate ceasefire must be accompanied by a serious political process in order to try and stabilise the situation in the long term.
A draft statement circulated by the 25 EU foreign ministers in advance of the meeting called for an immediate ceasefire.
"Disregard for necessary precautions to avoid loss of civilian life constitutes a severe breach of international humanitarian law," the statement said.
Speaking at a reconvened meeting of the European Parliament today, Ireland East MEP Avril Doyle said military means alone will never lead to a durable solution in the Middle East but would "increase the support for fundamentalists and further radicalise alienated societies across the region".
"While Israel has an absolute right to defend itself against terrorist attacks, no right of self defence can be invoked to justify the slaughter at Qana, the killing of the UNIFIL observers and the mass destruction of civilian infrastructure in South Lebanon. Israel is losing friends fast, with the violence fast escalating out of all proportion to what gave rise to the problem," she said.
Michael D. Higgins, Labour Party
Labour Party president and foreign affairs spokesman Michael D Higgins, called on the Irish Government to actively push for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.
"The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs is meeting on Wednesday . . . to discuss as a matter of urgency, the tragedy which is unfolding in Lebanon and Israel in the full gaze of the international community," he said.
"During the discussion I will be pressing that the Irish government do everything in its power, at UN and EU level, to ensure that a ceasefire is called immediately as a matter of priority."
The destruction of Lebanon and the slaughter of its innocent people is unjustified and must stop, a former Government minister said tonight.
Speaking at the opening of the Beirut Before and After exhibition at Dublin Castle, ex-Defence Minister Michael Smith said the past few weeks had been "wrong" and unjustified.
The Tipperary North TD, who was dropped from the Cabinet in 2004, visited Lebanon several times and built up a close affinity with the country when he held the defence portfolio from 1997 to 2004. He said: "There is no justification for this slaughter of innocent people. There should never be a need to solve our problems by killing our neighbours.
"What is going on is wrong, cannot be justified, is unfair and we want to see an end to it." The exhibition, organised by the Irish Lebanese Cultural Foundation, features images of the reconstruction of Beirut in the 1990s after its devastating 15-year civil war.