The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has called on the Government to do more to ensure that international humanitarian law is respected as the Middle East crisis intensifies, writes Marie O'Halloran
Dr Martin spoke of the abandonment and betrayal of the people of the Holy Land by the international community, which had failed to guarantee "their basic rights and securities in the face of hidden interests and fostered hatreds".
He emphasised that the rule of law was binding on all states and on "non-state actors".
At a Mass for peace in Dublin's Pro-Cathedral on Saturday, Dr Martin urged the Government to "do all in its power within international frameworks to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches those most in need and to stress unrelentingly that in any conflict international humanitarian law - which protects civilians and civilian infrastructures - is binding on all states and also on all non-state actors, without exception".
He said: "The Gospel of today's Mass shows how Jesus was moved by people who had gathered to hear his words because they were 'like sheep without a shepherd'. Jesus was referring to how the people had constantly been failed throughout biblical history by their religious and political leaders. Only God remained true to his people in the face of the many disintegrating pressures."
Referring to the seemingly "never-ending conflict", he said: "How true those words must ring to the people in the Holy Land today who are victims of the conflict and who once again must feel betrayed and abandoned by the inability of . . . nations to guarantee for them their basic rights and securities in the face of hidden interests and fostered hatreds."
He added that "to these innocent people the international community must appear 'shepherd-less', once again unable to find its own unity of purpose in the face of a seemingly never-ending conflict".
Earlier on Saturday about 20 people observed two minutes' silence at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin to highlight the crisis in Lebanon. Members of the Lebanese Irish community and former soldiers who served with Unifil in Lebanon were among those who attended.
A similar ceremony was held and silence observed in Thurles, Co Tipperary.
In Cork and Dublin, anti-war rallies were also held. They were organised by the Cork Alliance against War, the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and Socialist Youth.
On Saturday, the last group of 17 Irish evacuees from Lebanon arrived back in Dublin in an operation organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
See also pages 8 and 9