Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government's position on Palestine is clear. We support the establishment of a Palestinian state. No such state exists at present. The Palestinian territories are occupied by Israel. We have taken a decision not to recognise a state that does not yet exist. It is very much our view that Jerusalem and the state of Jerusalem should be settled as part of a final stated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. In the meantime, our embassy will stay in Tel Aviv. I am not up to date with the foreign policy position Denmark is taking in this regard, but we have to bear in mind that when a country recognises Palestine, Israel interprets that in the same way as the Palestinians have interpreted the US Government's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I understand this has happened in the case of Sweden. The Israeli Government has a tendency to disengage with countries that recognise the state of Palestine. That could undermine the important humanitarian work we do in that region. We have plans to intensify and increase the humanitarian work we do in the Palestinian territories. We have to consider that this work could be undermined.

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