Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I visited Gaza during my recent visit to the region as I wanted to see personally the effects of the blockade on the civilian population. I had useful discussions with Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, which kindly facilitated my visit. I also visited an UNRWA school and a refugee camp and met with a number of Gazan business people and human rights defenders. The people of Gaza, similarly to people everywhere, simply want the chance to lead a normal life. Gazans want to provide for their families and see their children educated. Young people want the opportunity to pursue their education and business people want to return to running their businesses.

The blockade prevents any semblance of normal life in the territory. It has stifled the Gazan economy and reduced much of the population to a state of complete dependency. It has choked off private industry and encouraged a growing and thriving black market. It prevents UNRWA from transporting the necessary equipment and materials into Gaza for the reconstruction of schools, homes and other necessary infrastructure. The blockade is not only unjust and contrary to international humanitarian law but also totally counterproductive.

In my meetings with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, and Foreign Minister, Mr. Lieberman, in Israel last month, I stressed the futility of the blockade. I reiterated the Irish Government's view that the blockade clearly causes unnecessary hardship for the civilian population in Gaza and those working to assist them, and that it is not in the interests of Israel or its security. I urged Mr. Netanyahu and his colleagues to take decisive action with regard to ending the blockade of Gaza and, in particular, urged them to ease restrictions on exports and speed up the approval process for vital reconstruction projects being undertaken by the UN. In reply, Mr. Netanyahu indicated that he was open to considering facilitating greater exports from Gaza.

I will be reporting on my visit to Gaza and my discussions with Israeli leaders at the next Foreign Affairs Council on 27 February. The EU has been extremely active in pressing the Israeli authorities to alter fundamentally its policies with regard to Gaza and open up the border crossings to all normal commercial, humanitarian and human traffic, as called for in Security Council Resolution 1860 of January 2009. While there has been some easing in the succeeding three years, the changes made are clearly insufficient and do not fundamentally alter the nature of the blockade imposed on Gaza. I look forward to discussing with my EU colleagues what further steps can be usefully taken at this stage to persuade Israel to abandon its unjust blockade of Gaza.

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