Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There has been much public discourse about our political system. We saw it in the context of the low turnout in the general election. I recently met a group of young people who informed me there is a mistrust on the part of the electorate. They accused politicians of not sticking by their word and of talking out of both sides of their mouths. We have another example of this today with the Government not supporting the progression of the occupied territories Bill in its totality and not in its watered-down version, as Mary Lou McDonald described it. The Government has reneged on its commitment to the Irish public. One of the young people asked me what the occupied territories Bill is. I explained it in the best way I could. Over the decades, Israel has forcibly removed Palestinians from their land. It then set up settlements on that land. These are illegal settlements. Israelis live on these illegal settlements. They also set up business and enterprise on that land which they stole from the Palestinians. The occupied territories Bill would prevent Ireland from doing any trade with businesses that were set up on these illegal settlements. It is as simple as that. Any person with a shred of humanity would recognise that trading with businesses set up on illegal settlements is wrong.

Sinn Féin is calling for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to deliver on their pre-election commitment to speedily enact the occupied territories Bill. As was quoted, in the words of a Fianna Fáil Minister, "if this is not the time to act, when will that time come?". In the six years since Senator Frances Black first tabled the occupied territories Bill, the situation in Palestine has deteriorated. While the world is rightly focused on the horrific genocidal war in Gaza, we are also seeing one of the biggest land grabs in decades in the West Bank. More homes have been destroyed, families displaced and settlements built. How can we repeatedly condemn this as illegal but continue to trade in the goods produced on these illegal settlements? It is clear hypocrisy and it must stop now.

I was lucky enough to spend some time in the West Bank. I saw at first hand these illegal settlements. While the word "settlements" might bring forward images of wagons rolling across the prairie, the truth is much different. These are fortified settlements, often on the best lands in the area, surrounded by armed members of the Israel Defense Forces or Israeli militia. They are often located on high vantage points towering over the Palestinian population who they have forced out of their homes. Today, more than 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, controlling a significant portion of its land and the majority of its water and natural resources.

The European Union's position is absolutely clear: Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Despite this, EU countries, shamefully including Ireland, continue to make settlements financially viable. The occupied territories Bill does not preclude trade with Israel. It only precludes trade on lands that Israel has illegally invaded and claimed as its own. Ireland has been at the forefront of the international response to the horrific genocide in Palestine, including recognition of the State of Palestine. I welcome and am very proud of this, but it is time to go one step further. It is time to back up words with action. Speeches like this are all well and good but words without action are futile. Words without sanctions are futile. It is time that Ireland led the way and said that enough is enough. It is time that Ireland enacted the occupied territories Bill. It is time for Ireland to introduce sanctions. If the world does not start sanctioning Israel for its illegal land grab, its genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people and its apartheid regime, Israel will just continue with impunity.

I welcome the ceasefire and the release of the Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and I wish with all my heart that this piece will continue; however, even during this truce, world leaders like Donald Trump are speaking about the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Trump has said the Palestinian population should be displaced to Egypt and Jordan. Both of those countries, other Arab nations and Palestinian leaders have rejected this.

What the Palestinian people need is support to return home. They need an end to the genocide and to apartheid, and real sanctions imposed on Israel so it will face the consequences of the war crimes it has committed. These sanctions would also prevent future war crimes. Ireland, by failing to sanction an apartheid and genocidal state, is enabling apartheid and genocide. Ireland can make a stance on this to say enough is enough, and that starts by progressing the occupied territories Bill in its totality.

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