Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 101 and 103 together.

Ireland and its EU partners have on many occasions expressed firm support for a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians and the wider Arab world, on the basis of the two-state solution. Although the talks process is at present stalled, we continue to do what we can to encourage the parties to engage and to work towards that end.

There is increasing concern in the EU, which I have highlighted, that the relentless progress of Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is undermining the possibility of constructing a viable Palestinian state. These policies pose a threat to the prospect of a negotiated political settlement and run directly counter to the two-state solution which has been the central objective of the EU for many years.

At the urging of Ireland and other member states, the Foreign Affairs Council last Monday focused its discussion not on the overall peace process but on these specific viability issues, notably issues around Israeli settlement expansion and the pressure on Palestinians in East Jerusalem and area C, which is that part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the West Bank still fully under Israeli military control and occupation.

The Council conclusions adopted last week send out a strong and united EU message on these critical and urgent issues. Ireland was heavily involved in the preparation of these important conclusions and fully supports them. The EU has set out in some detail the issues which threaten a two-state solution, the EU's position in respect of these issues and the remedial action it wishes to see, primarily, of course, from Israel. I very much welcome and support these strong Council conclusions, which restate and in many respects advance EU positions on these key points.

I suggested at the Council that in view of the urgency of these issues on the ground, Ministers should look at them again in the autumn to see if the situation had improved or was continuing to worsen. I suggested that if matters continued to worsen and our existing actions had not improved them, we would clearly need to consider stronger actions. The exclusion from the EU of settlement products and of individual settlers engaged in violence, should, in that case, be considered.

I have previously stated that Ireland would support a ban on settlement products. We do not support bans or boycotts on Israel, and this is not in question, but the products of illegal settlements constitute a separate and specific matter. However, this is in the future and the Council as a whole will need to decide on any actions. I would emphasise that with sustained work and the co-operation of partners, we have achieved a strong set of EU conclusions which all 27 member states have supported and which now places High Representative, Baroness Ashton, and the EU in a stronger position to argue for the continuing viability of the two-state solution, both within the framework of the international quartet and more generally throughout the region.

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