Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased that this Bill has been introduced. I thank Deputy Niall Collins for introducing it. I also congratulate Senator Black who initiated it and the Senators who passed it in the Seanad last year. I thank those campaigners outside the Dáil who put in a huge amount of work to highlight it.

It is important to state what the Bill calls for. It has been and no doubt will be denounced by the Israeli embassy as anti-Israel, or even anti-Semitic, because any criticism of Israeli policy in the illegally occupied West Bank always is. The Bill calls for a ban on the importation of goods produced in Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine. These settlements are illegal under international law and constitute a policy of colonisation on the West Bank.

I was very pleased to sponsor a public meeting in my constituency last year at which Senator Black explained the purpose of the Bill. The meeting was packed and there was great support for the Bill. The meeting was addressed by a husband and wife, Fayez and Mona al-Taneeb, Palestinian farmers who are not allowed to work their farmland because of its proximity to the Israeli settlement. It is fenced off. On the occasions the two farmers have gone onto their land and planted crops the crops were destroyed by the Israeli army. Fayez and Mona made it quite clear at the meeting that they would continue to try to farm their own land and that they fully supported the Bill.

The settlements serve a number of purposes for the Zionist project. There is a great difference between the concept of the state of Israel existing side by side with an independent, viable Palestinian state and the project of Zionism, the ultimate aim of which is the annexation of all of the West Bank and its incorporation into a Jewish state. The settlements are a key part of the project. They provide a foothold in Palestinian territory, justify the presence of the Israeli army and are blocking the creation of a Palestinian state with a viable economy.

Recently there have been leaks about US President Donald Trump's so-called deal of the century in finding a resolution of the conflict on the West Bank. The so-called deal is extremely favourable to Israel, accepts the reality of the settlements and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. What has been reported as being included in the deal has been rejected by spokespersons for the Palestinian Authority, but it has also been rejected out of hand by a Likud Party Minister. He has called for the imposition of sovereignty over the West Bank and the acceleration of settlement construction to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. Passing the Bill would be an important step forward. I hope it would be followed by other states in applying international pressure on Israel and forcing it into meaningful negotiations to recognise the rights of the Palestinian people.

See this speech in context