Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 64 together.

I have repeatedly expressed my serious concerns regarding the construction and expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. As I have stated on several occasions, continued settlement construction has a direct and negative impact on the political process. It also prejudges the outcome of final status negotiations and threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution.

The total settler population is now fast approaching half a million people in 121 settlements in the West Bank, 12 settlements in the hinterland of East Jerusalem and 100 or more other outposts and unrecognised smaller settlements. According to an estimate by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, the Jewish settler population in the West Bank continues to grow three times faster than the population in Israel and has risen by 42% since 2001. The reports of new structures being built in the settlements tally with this population growth.

The construction of settlements anywhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law. I have seen at first hand the damage wrought by these settlements and the associated regime of settler only bypass roads and the separation barrier on Palestinian society and economy. The EU has repeatedly called on Israel to honour the commitments it made at the Annapolis conference and, in accordance with the roadmap, to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth and to dismantle outposts built since 2001.

I am deeply concerned at recent reports that the Israeli authorities have approved the construction of what is essentially a new settlement in the West Bank. I have conveyed my serious concern about settlement expansion directly to the Israeli Government at every opportunity, most recently in a meeting with Israeli Minister for Education, Yuli Tamir, on 20 January.

As Deputies will be aware, Ireland has taken a cautious approach to the upgrading of EU relations with Israel, which was agreed in principle in December. I made it clear to my EU colleagues at the recent General Affairs and External Relations Council that what happened in Gaza means that there cannot be a business as usual approach to proceeding with the upgrade at this time. I have consistently argued that account must be taken of overall developments in the peace process, including the approach taken by the new Israeli Government to be formed following Tuesday's elections, in determining how to proceed. Such developments should in my view include Israeli Government policy on settlement activity and expansion.

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