Eamon Gilmore backs Palestinian bid for statehood during UN General Assembly address

Palestinean's were given a state before Israel was created, it is called Jordan, the majority of the land set aside in the Palestinian Mandate after WW1 was peopled by Palestininans, there never in history existed a state called Palestine. The Palestinans who lived among the Jesish people were advised by the Arab goverments to leave, they were thrown out of Jordan by their own people, Jordan would not give them land in the West Bank or Egypt would not give them land in Gaza, the only nation that gave the selve exiled refugees land was Israel...end of story.

Bythebay, instead of a Palestinian state how about a Palestinian county, maybe Meath or Down.

We fully support Palestine in Ireland and a Palestinian State. We oppose all methods to destroy the Palestinian people and their representatives. We have held marches in Ireland to show our support for Palestine and a Palestinian State.

Maith thú, a mhic, Éamon! You indeed are representing the Irish People, by voting thus. You are also pointing out the American slavish support(TEN BILLION Annually) for Israel. Could somebody explain to me why the candidate for President has to go, on bended knee, to some Israeli lobby group, in order to be elected. This being so, how can he then, pretend to be impartial in any negotiations with Palestine?

fact-250,000 homes bulldozed by Israeli terrorist since 1967. FACT 500,000 jews live in the west bank on palestinian land.Fact the israeli terrorist state is holding 10,000 Palestinian men women and children,most of them incarcerated for misdemeanours.RYANLOCKE has a revionist concept of history or is he another zionist sent to demonise Palestinian supporters.The Palestinians have the right to bear arms and fight the terrorist Israeli state.

Very telling that supporting Israel, a democracy under extreme pressure to remain so, invokes such ire and indeed personal attacks aimed at me on this site. @Trealach: FACT- Hamas may have garnered votes in the PA elections but perhaps you glibly fail to note that they are only in power in Gaza due to a bloody coup in which they ousted Fatah because that belies the fact that they are NOT democratic but labelled a terrorist organization by the EU, of which Ireland is a member. They installed themselves at the end of a gun. @Tooreenagrena Resorting to name calling does not mitigate the argument that someone being exiled from their land x number of years ago makes that exile any less relevant. Indeed the Irish still harbor feelings of injustice against the English for misappropriation of land centuries ago. And @Woundedknee FACT- Aug. 18, 2011 Militants from Gaza crossed the border and sprayed buses with bullets killing innocent Israeli civilians. Don't resort to calling someone a liar without basis. I am fair in my views on the conflict and support a 2 state solution but am rather taken aback by the blatant anti-Israeli one sided rhetoric that fills these comment pages. I've been to Israel and the West Bank and have seen the issues first hand and unlike many on here actually educate myself with the FACTS. It would be nice if others did so too instead of resorting to name calling.

@RyanLocke - your statement is typically arrogant and ingnorant. Hamas was democratically elected BY the People, a system, which I realise is something foreign to Americans, none the less, they were elected. However, because America didn't 'install' them as a 'puppet government' they are called Terrorists. Obama can 'veto' all he likes, the UN is NOT the US Government, and when the vote is put before the General Assembly of the UN, his Veto will have been nothing more than a time wasting exercise. For the first time in seven months, I can at last give án Táiniste Gillmore credit for doing the right thing.

THE UNITED STATES IS GOING TO BLOCK IT. OBAMA NEEDS THE JEWISH VOTE. OBAMA IS ALL POLITICS, AND NO PRINCIPAL.

Ryanlocke you sound pathetic you have no concept of justiceThe anti-zionist tag is so over used it's boring

RyanLocke: You are an idiot to try as many israel apologists do and call people anti semitic for daring to point out that israel is an invader and coloniser of another peoples land. Why are you talking about 2000 year old history? What the hell has that got to do with the here and now? Israel, the coloniser, has stalled negotions for 20 years, uses tanks and planes to bomb palestinians. What are they the good guys then?

ryanlocke: You're lying. The only gun attacks on Israel's border were a couple of months ago, when the Israelis killed about twenty unarmed demonstrators. I guess those folks' lives don't count with you, they're just Palestinians.

Thank you! Gracias! Merci ! Domo Arigato ! Eamon Gilmore. Why is it automatically assumed that a negative comment about Israel policy means one is anti-Jews. I'm not-the Palestinian issue is a HUMAN RIGHTS issue. UN recognition might help bring to the fore the shameful and deplorable conditions the Palestinians live under and as a Humanist I'm all for that.

its nice knowing someone in irish politics can identify with another's suffering. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

@RyanLocke- I am not tirading against Israel. All I am saying is if the state of Israel exsists, then a state of Palistine should exsist also. I have nothing against Jews, or Arabs for that matter. I am just trying to be FAIR. What is good for one is good for the other.......

Another tirade of anti-Israeli/anti-semetic rhetoric by commentators on here. @stephendoyle Were not the Jews forcibly removed from THEIR land after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans, a process of forced exile that was completed by Arab invaders in later centuries. Gilmore is right to argue for direct negotiations as the only way to create peace and stability between 2 neighboring states: Israel and Palestine but is way of the mark in supporting Palestinian UN membership first. And what of Gaza? Home to half of a future Palestinian state yet is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization that hurls thousands of rockets on Israeli towns and recently launched gun and attempted kidnap attacks along the border? This act would only embolden these Islamist thugs. Israel is not the bad guy here despite the constant one-sided bad press they get.