Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I have no difficulty with the Minister's statements on Hamas. However, while Israel has been in breach of human rights law and international humanitarian law, the decision of the European Union to enter into technical arrangements on customs co-operation and make an informal arrangement on research was a reward for breaking Article 2 of the basic agreement between Israel and the European Union. The European Union watched and saw clear breaches, offered no sanctions and stayed silent on the further occupation of the land, especially that which extends beyond east Jerusalem.

It was interesting that the Heads of Mission and representatives of various European countries prepared a report last October and November in which they appealed to their Heads of State to make a statement before it was too late on the further expansion of east Jerusalem. That is now a key situation. East Jerusalem has been expanded by an area one and a half times the size of Paris. Entire communities have been surrounded and it will effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two. What is left as a viable Palestinian state are three cantons, namely, Gaza and the north and south occupied West Bank. It is time to realise that what is being put at stake by these unilateral actions is the viability of the two state solution itself.

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