Determining your own future is a universal and fundamental human right, writes Bishop John Kirby
The necessity for moral and legal limits in war is not an abstract issue. We are deeply conscious of this fact as we see the tragic plight of Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli civilians unfolding each day on our television screens and in our newspapers.
John Paul II, in the course of his message for the World Day of Peace in 2002, speaking on the rights of states to defend themselves from attack, said: "There exists a right to defend oneself . . . which, as always, must be exercised with respect for moral and legal limits . . . The guilty must be correctly identified, since the criminal culpability is always personal and cannot be extended to the nation, ethnic group or religion."
When analysts and historians look around for the causes and the consequences of the eruption in violence across the Middle East it will be important to keep this message of responsibility in mind.
While the historians debate the more precise causes of the current crisis it is important to observe that this conflict cannot be untangled from the multiple human rights violations suffered by the Palestinian people.
We are increasingly aware how complex the situation throughout the Middle East - including Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon - is.
It is difficult to keep up with the current events and still be aware of the deep historical, ethnic, religious and human rights issues which tie them together. About 10 per cent of Lebanon's population is made up of Palestinian refugees from the wars in 1948 and 1967. The continued occupation of Palestine by Israel is a source of deep grievance across the Arab world. It is the central injustice to which others, rightly or wrongly, attach their flags.
Trócaire and our partners in the Caritas International network are working throughout Palestine and Lebanon to provide immediate humanitarian services for people on the ground in the most dire conditions. Trócaire and the Irish church are also working to build support for human rights in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, because only by supporting human rights can we ensure a just and lasting peace in the region.
The collective pressures on Palestinians, and the occupation which causes them, result in a range of consequences - including Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and regional instability in the Middle East.
The decision to destroy lives by inflicting terror into the heart of a civilian population is a despicable act - whether it be by Palestinians, Israelis or Hizbullah. It must be condemned unreservedly as morally repugnant and politically ineffective. But the decision to respond to attacks - whether those attacks are legally acceptable or not - must take place within the strict limits imposed by international law.
Benedict XVI echoed this sentiment when he stated that such attacks, and reprisals to them, "cannot be justified . . . when they entail tragic consequences for the civilian population".
The dream of the Palestinian people of realising a Palestinian state has slipped away under the pressure of Israel's expansion of its illegal settlements, the construction of the security wall inside the West Bank, the colossal death and casualty toll endured by Palestinian families and the systematic demolition of thousands of homes.
When we speak of universal human rights, the most basic, the most fundamental, is the right to life. However, when we speak of life it should not be in terms that eliminate the core dignity owed to each living person. Indeed, ensuring dignity of the person and guaranteeing the right to determine our own paths is an essential component of realising the full value and joys of life.
Determining our own future is also a fundamental, universal human right.
It is this right to self-determination - enshrined as inalienable in international law - which the Palestinian people seek. Without a genuine and substantive desire on the part of the governments of the world to realise a Palestinian state, there is little possibility of a just and lasting peace. If we are truly opposed to violence, we must provide an alternative. For this we must all take responsibility.
Bishop John Kirby is Catholic Bishop of Clonfert, chairman of Trócaire and a member of the Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs.