Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Am I correct in stating that 16,000 new settlement units have been either announced or approved over the past two years? Two days ago, there was a young Palestinian man in here. He came from Beit Ummar. He spoke in terms of the problems being encountered by his family and community between Hebron and Bethlehem. He was asking for help, and what the Irish people can do for his situation. He spoke of their fruit trees being cut down, of the difficulty encountered by those who go in to buy the fruit and to ship it to the market, and of raw sewage being poured over their crops. He stated that this was the norm in that part of the region. That should not be the norm in any part of the world. I would say the people in Israel would be as horrified as people anywhere else in the world at that. What is going on is not right for the Palestinians; it is not right for the Israeli people. Would the Tánaiste agree there is an onus on Ireland as an independent country to raise its voice in support of those suffering under this type of arrangement?

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