Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before opening the floor to members, I wish to pose one question. As the Tánaiste is aware, the committee recently visited Jordan, Palestine and Israel and met the Foreign Ministers in each jurisdiction. People in Jordan and Palestine are treating the Middle East peace process and the initiative taken by US Secretary of State John Kerry as urgent. They see that latter as offering a great window of opportunity in the context of something happening in respect of Israel and Palestine. When we visited Israel, one obtained the impression that the sense of urgency or priority to which I refer was absent. Yesterday's announcement by the European Union was to the effect that all future agreements between it and Israel must exclude the Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. How significant is the latter in the context of the overall Middle East peace process?