H.E. Dr. Jilan Abdalmajid:

I thank the Chairman. Deputy Brady asked what we want from the Government, the parties and the Irish people. Ireland is a small country in Europe, but the Deputy's remarks reminded me that New Zealand submitted a resolution regarding the settlements to the UN Security Council in 2016. It is a small country but the resolutions it put forward have been adopted by the UN Security Council and that is great. Ireland has a great opportunity by virtue of its role on the Security Council to present something to support Palestinian rights in Palestine.

I refer to the issue of annexation. As Senator O'Reilly stated, there is no difference between de jure annexation and de facto annexation. Israel annexed the occupied territories in 1967 and has applied its law there since then. In terms of appropriating land, more than 60% of Area C on the West Bank has been annexed. As Deputy Brady stated, 250 settlements have been built on stolen land and are occupied by more than 650,000 settlers. In comparison, when we signed the Oslo agreement in 1993 there were only 200,000 settlers, living in fewer than 150 settlements. It is important for the issue of settlements, colonisation and annexation to be brought to the UN Security Council and for it to issue a resolution. As I stated, New Zealand is a small country but it managed to submit a resolution on this issue. Ireland has a role within the international community in supporting Palestinians. In light of the relations of the Irish Government with the current US Administration, I think it can do something.

As regards the parties, we are engaging with almost all parties, including Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil. So many people are opening doors to Palestinians and supporting our human rights. The support we have received from political parties and the Irish people in general is great and it is acknowledged by our people. I refer to the motion that it is hoped will be tabled in the Dáil. We believe from our contacts with most of the parties that they will support the motion. I hope Fine Gael will support it. I refer to the position of the Government with regard to annexations. It is important that Deputies vote in favour of the motion.

The attitude of Irish people towards Palestinians is amazing. They are very well educated on the issues. What we want is for them to keep educating themselves in that regard. During the assault against Gaza yesterday, I saw that Irish people were tremendously active on the issue on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. They want to be more educated about the current situation and the historical issue of Palestine. We are trying to do our best in that regard. Solidarity groups are working very hard on this issue. Compared with citizens of many European nations, Irish people are highly educated on the issue of Palestine. We will keep working with them and next to them. It is not only about social media. People should speak to their local Deputies when a motion comes before the Parliament.

Once a motion on Palestine comes to the Parliament, we want all the people to contact their Deputies to encourage them to vote in favour of it.

Senator O'Reilly asked about elections. The election has not been cancelled; it has been postponed. Let me explain something about the election: from the beginning, the Palestinian Authority and all the factions of Palestinians who met in Cairo before issuing the decree of elections all agreed that without East Jerusalem, there would be no election. They walk their talk. We tried for the past three months to work with the EU and international community to put pressure on Israel to have in Jerusalem a right to participate in the election, as happened in 1996 and 2006. The international community failed to put this pressure on the Israelis. Just two days before we announced the postponement of the election, we received a letter from the Israelis stating they would not allow it. There were many solutions. Reference was made to voting outside and to some people in Jerusalem accessing the polls in the West Bank. These were not accepted. The right to participate in an election in Jerusalem is at the core. It is key to our Palestinian cause. The agreement was signed and we agreed upon it. The international community has a responsibility to put pressure on Israel to allow the election in East Jerusalem. Once the international community could not put pressure on the Israelis to respect it, we could not say more than that we would postpone the election. The moment the Israelis will allow an election, including nomination, voting and campaigning in East Jerusalem, a date will be set for it. It is our democratic right. Every single Palestinian, young, old and middle-aged, has wanted what I have described for the past 15 years. We lost the right. Every single Palestinian wanted the election to happen. With the help of the international community, it is a matter of putting pressure on Israel to allow the election in East Jerusalem. Without East Jerusalem's participation, no election will be held.

The other witnesses will talk about the settlements and the two-state solution. I will keep some time to outline the rest of my beliefs.