Irish Examiner view: Gaza’s future in the hands of others

Sharp-eyed readers will also notice a significant omission from the Trump's peace plan — the input of the people of Gaza

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the Macca Tower, a high-rise building in Gaza City, last Sunday. Picture: Yousef Al Zanoun/AP

The peace plan announced by US president Donald Trump this week is yet another attempt to bring an end to the savagery in Gaza which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The plan envisages an Israeli withdrawal back to an agreed line, hostage exchanges, and Gaza being governed by a transnational organisation with both Palestinian and international representation. The last element has already been called the “Board of Peace” by Mr Trump; characteristically, he has declared himself its chairman.

There have been plans and schemes announced previously which came to nought, so it is necessary to temper our optimism about this proposal, but there may be grounds for hope.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated support for the plan. Even though he pushed back almost instantaneously on accompanying proposals for Palestinian statehood, which is hardly surprising, he is understood to have apologised for violating Qatar’s sovereignty when a Qatari security officer was killed in an Israeli attack on September 9.

The significance of his apology is that Qatar is now expected to continue to work with the US and Egypt in attempting to negotiate an end to the conflict.

It is not known how Hamas will react to the peace proposals, and experienced observers expect the organisation to take some days to formulate a response. Mr Trump has already warned Hamas to accept the plan, which rather begs an obvious question.

Given the power and influence the US wields in the region, could it not have flexed its muscles earlier to bring Israel and Hamas to the negotiating table? If this proposal succeeds, that is laudable, but thousands of Palestinian lives could have been spared if such a plan had been implemented sooner.

Sharp-eyed readers will also notice a significant omission from the peace plan — the input of the people of Gaza. After months of armed attacks and man-made famine, their future now depends on the deliberations of others. It is the ultimate expression of their powerlessness and vulnerability.

Clouds darken at lack of action

Met Éireann is monitoring the remnants of Hurricane Humberto as it tracks across the Atlantic because it may bring heavy rain and strong winds to Ireland this weekend.

That snippet of news takes on added relevance when considering the latest report of Ireland’s independent Climate Change Advisory Council, which was detailed by Alison O’Reilly this week. It has criticised the Government for its lack of action in response to the storm season. It has also urged the Government to commit to defined annual funding for climate adaptation actions, starting with the budget.

This should be of considerable concern to us, because in our very recent history we have had to contend with the full force of serious storms.

In the last year Storms Darragh and Éowyn both caused serious issues for the country. Storm Éowyn was particularly punishing for large swathes of the country last January, when almost 750,000 homes, farms, and businesses were left without power. We are now facing into storm season again.

The council has expressed its disappointment that a
cross-government review of the response to Storm Éowyn remains unpublished, and many people will share that disappointment. There was a good deal of unhappiness with the Government’s response to that storm, with a perceived lack of urgency when it came to rural and remote areas around the country. We have learned the hard way that such storms, which were once seen as exceptional, can now be expected every winter.

The report is a dispiriting revelation about State inaction on this pressing matter, but it cannot come as a surprise.

Communities such as Midleton in Cork, where hundreds of homes and businesses suffered significant damage during Storm Babet back in 2023, received plentiful promises of support in the aftermath of that event. Just this month, however, residents of the town were planning protests over the slow rollout of flood defences.

Storm protection for the protection of all must be prioritised by the Government.

Media non-event

Even the political junkies amongst us were left a little underwhelmed by the first of the presidential debates, which was held on Monday night on Virgin Media.

As pointed out here by Paul Hosford, the sense of occasion was undercut somewhat by seating the candidates, which gave proceedings the air of a routine panel show rather than a decisive debate. A consensus emerged afterwards that Catherine Connolly gave the most polished performance of the three — her fluency in Irish certainly served to distinguish her from opponents Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin — but it’s very early days.

We may be expecting too much of such set pieces in the first place, particularly as the TV debate derives much of its credibility from a much-mythologised encounter between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon over 60 years ago. Televised debates can acquaint voters with candidates they may not know, but we may have to lower expectations of a decisive, election-deciding rhetorical flourish.

One could go a step further and ask if our expectations of this year’s presidential candidates are also set too high. There is general agreement that Michael D Higgins has done an outstanding job in Áras an Uachtaráin, agreement that cuts across party and ideological lines. Expecting the next president to reach the same standards may be unrealistic.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here