Ms Fatin Al Tamimi:

I thank the Chair and the committee for inviting us here today. I am a Palestinian whose family is originally from Hebron or Al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank. In the very heart of our city, 800 colonial settlers and hundreds of occupation soldiers hold Hebron hostage.

They control every aspect of life and death for 200,000 indigenous Palestinians. This is the Israeli settler colonial apartheid regime in microcosm. The settlements and violence are not unfortunate byproducts, they are the point.

While we Palestinians remain steadfast, it is not always easy to maintain hope. The past 21 months have been the most hopeless of all, watching a live-streamed genocide of people unfold before our eyes while western powers at best sit on their hands and at worst are completely complicit. For me, the past two years have been a living hell of constant fear and worry about my sister and her family trapped in Gaza. At any moment they could be bombed or simply shot while trying to get food aid. Yet, my pain is nothing compared to those who have lost family or friends. None of it compares to the daily horror that people in Gaza exist in and witness and feel daily.

However, I do find hope. I find it in the hundreds and thousands of Irish people who come out in their thousands day after day and month after month, in every city, town and village in Ireland, to demand an end to this genocide and real action from the Irish Government. Polls show the vast majority of Irish people not only stand with Palestinians but support stronger measures from the Government. The most recent polling shows three quarters of the Irish voting public supports the passing of the full occupied territories Bill, including banning goods and services. Only 15% oppose it. This trade helps to ensure the economic viability of illegal settlements in the West Bank and potentially in Gaza, where Israeli ministers have openly said they plan to ethnically cleanse and build more settlements.

We are not asking for special favours. We are asking that Ireland live up to its legal obligation not to assist war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide. We need to ban the trade in settlement goods and services. The world is watching and I ask Ireland to please do its best, and to do the right thing and pass the occupied territories Bill and give the Palestinians hope.