Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

The leader of Fine Gael, Deputy Kenny, and I went on a visit to Israel and Palestine recently. I acknowledge the assistance we received from the Minister's officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Their help was most welcome.

I have been to Jerusalem several times and I was struck by the absence of Palestinians in the new city of Jerusalem. In the mid-1980s they were visible in the streets but now they are almost entirely gone. I agree with the Minister that events on the ground are moving in the wrong direction. Gaza is tragic but an equal tragedy is happening covertly on the West Bank. The mechanisms that were initially to deal with the threat from suicide bombers have gone far beyond what is necessary for security.

Does the Minister agree that while there is consensus on the policy with regard to Palestine and Israel, and the statement by Secretary of State Clinton was welcome, implementing that policy is difficult? What mechanisms does he have to implement the two-state solution and a return to the pre-1967 borders? Will he make every effort to ensure no further settlements are built, that those built since March 2001 are destructed and that the wall is taken down where it has clearly been put up not for security reasons but to strangle a population and society?

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