Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. It is very disappointing that Israel last week announced plans to build 1,400 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Indeed, if I recall correctly, it was a dispute over settlement construction that put an end to the last peace talks. I welcome Commissioner Catherine Ashton's statement calling on Israel to halt all construction in the West Bank immediately.

She stated that the building of settlements is detrimental to the ongoing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. That message must be sent out to the international community in very clear terms. Commissioner Ashton also stated, "The settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make the two-state solution impossible". We previously discussed the Government's intention to ban goods from the illegal Israeli settlements. Has progress been made at either national or European Union level in respect of such a ban?

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