Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The civil war in Syria is being actively used by Israel to make its hold on the Golan Heights permanent. That is in flagrant breach of the UNDOF mission. By keeping our troops there, we are legitimising that illegal act. The last time we raised this matter, the Minister of State said he did not recognise Israeli sovereignty in the region. He might not, but it is an absolute fact and that is not much comfort to the 25,000 Syrians crammed into five overcrowded villages, while Israeli settlers have spread themselves out over 95% of the land. It is not going to stop Israel hoovering up the profits from a recent massive oil find in the area either. By staying there, not only are we legitimising what is happening, we are also standing by and facilitating them doing it. It has been no secret that the Israeli Prime Minister has been lobbying to legitimise this annexation and by staying we are undoing a lot of the good work that Irish peacekeepers have done in the past. There are many other places around the world where our personnel could be much better and more appropriately deployed.

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