Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not doubt for a second the Minister's sincerity in this regard. This is not just this House condemning a particular act of violence or a particular atrocity, however. It is the undermining of the basis for lasting peace in a situation that has often been the root of a conflict that has spread across the world over the last number of decades.

The West Bank is the main part of the Palestinian territories. Israel has now constructed 130 settlements that house more than 700,000 settlers. As the Minister has heard, the Israeli Parliament repealed legislation that ordered the dismantling of four settlements in the past in the occupied West Bank. It is, therefore, almost a green light for the wholesale annexation of Palestinian territories and the creation of an impossibility for lasting peace.

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