Mr. Colm O'Gorman:

If it is okay I will revert to Deputy Clarke's specific point because it is difficult to give her a brief reply. I would rather come back to colleagues directly if that is okay. Mr. Higazi will reply to her second question and I will also ask him to speak to Deputy Boyd Barrett's points.

I might frame that by saying, in the first instance that it is, of course, understandable that when people think of apartheid, they think of South Africa. When we have examined what is happening in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and indeed, the impact that Israel has on Palestinian refugees in other countries, we are looking at it purely in that context and applying the framework of international law to that context. We are not comparing it with South Africa. I am not saying the Deputy is doing that either. I certainly remember that period in Irish life. The world was very slow to get to grips with it and to acknowledge what was happening in South Africa. I hope we will see a better response to what is now being revealed in respect of Israel. Equally, many of the mechanisms that are currently available were not available then. The ICC was not available as a mechanism, for instance, to refer the situation in South Africa to. That is why we are making that specific call. The situation in Israel should be referred to the ICC and this specific issue should be investigated by the ICC. There are new mechanisms that are available to us.

To make a general point, I suspect that unless the international community gets serious about taking meaningful action to ensure that Israel is held to account and to challenge the impunity granted to Israel to continue with these egregious, flagrant breaches of international law and the commission of crimes against humanity, it is not going to end. We agree that until the international community starts to respond in a very different way, it is not going to end. That is why many of the findings that we made in this report have been made. It is why we call on this committee, at least as a first step, to accept the findings of this report; to state clearly as a committee that it agrees with the analysis in the report that Israel is perpetrating the crime against humanity of apartheid; to accept and support the recommendations set out in this report, including the recommendations to other states, including Ireland; and to communicate that directly to the Irish Government. That is something we would very much welcome.

I might refer to Mr. Higazi on the Deputy's specific question about the 2007 study on the situation of Palestinian refugees in other countries, if he is aware of it. If Mr. Higazi is not aware of it, I am sure he will be able to talk about it in the context of the work we have done over the past four years.