Dáil debates

Wednesday, 2 March 2022

Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent Amnesty International Report: Statements

 

6:32 pm

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Táimid ag tosú leis an Áire. Tá fiche nóiméad aige. To avoid interrupting him, I ask if there is a copy of the Minister's speech available. It has happened a few times today, separate from the Minister, that speeches have not been available.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Yes. Each time I have contributed I think the speech was delivered while I was speaking.

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Not quite, but nearly.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Okay. I assume the people in my office are listening and I ask that they get a speech to the Chamber quickly. If not, I will ensure that happens as soon as I sit down.

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Go raibh maith agat.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We are here to address the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory and, in particular, the issues raised in the report published on 1 February by Amnesty International. The Seanad discussed this matter yesterday and the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence did so last week. I welcome those debates and the opportunity to set out Ireland's position.

Let me first say that I greatly respect Amnesty International and its important work, especially in terms of the contribution it makes to the promotion and protection of human rights. Ireland values the role Amnesty and other civil society organisations play in this regard. I note the publication of this detailed, substantial and comprehensive report, which paints a stark picture of the situation of the Palestinian people across Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territory. I have directed my officials to review the report in depth. My Department has already met representatives from Amnesty for an initial detailed exchange of views on the report.

The assertions in the Amnesty report echo those we have seen in a number of recent similar reports. Undoubtedly, these reports raise difficult questions for the Israeli Administration. I am extremely troubled by the way in which the human rights of Palestinians are impacted by the policies of the Israeli authorities and I look forward to a comprehensive debate on the issue. Our position on these matters will continue to be based on international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which sets out obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention for Israel as the occupying power, and on the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.

Ireland's approach is rooted in the illegality of Israel's occupation and the right of Palestinians to self-determination. Ireland has been consistently clear in that the occupation undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, a right that is at the heart of a two-state solution. I have been frank and direct in my bilateral engagements with Israel on these issues, with my EU partners and at the UN Security Council in expressing concern regarding the unequal treatment of Palestinians and the application of different standards in the occupied Palestinian territory.

It is important that, as a member of the UN Security Council and the EU, Ireland remain a credible and effective actor in international forums in the context of our views on the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli Government. We are conscious of how the language we use will be interpreted. I have stated that the Irish Government does not use the term "apartheid" because we do not think it is helpful in this context. However, I share Deputies' concerns in this regard. Indeed, I am very concerned by some of the issues highlighted in the Amnesty report, for example, the widespread use of administrative detention for Palestinians, which allows Israel to arrest and detain a person without charge. International humanitarian law is clear that administrative detention should only be used in exceptional circumstances. I renew my call on Israel to comply with its obligations under international law in this regard. Ireland and the EU have repeatedly raised the treatment of Palestinian prisoners with Israel. At the UN Human Rights Council, Ireland has called on Israeli authorities, in accordance with their obligations under Article 9 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to refrain from conducting arbitrary arrests and to follow the acceptable procedure established by law regarding arrest and detention.

The Amnesty report refers to the human rights situation, not only in the occupied Palestinian territory, but also in Israel itself. It is imperative that the rights of non-Jewish citizens of Israel not be infringed and that there is respect and tolerance for the diversity of its population. I am fully committed to raising such issues of equality with Israel. Where Ireland has concerns about laws and practices that undermine equality among citizens and disregard the rights of minorities, particularly the Palestinian minority in Israel, we make our views clearly known to Israel. For example, we have expressed our concern about the nation-state law, in that we have concerns that it might enable discriminatory practices against non-Jewish citizens. Deputies can be assured that I will continue to be frank with Israel on my concerns in this regard.

It is important that, as a member of the Security Council and the EU, Ireland remain a strong voice in international forums in respect of our views on the treatment of Palestinians. Ireland will again raise these important issues in its statement on accountability at the Human Rights Council tomorrow.

I wish to address the expansion of illegal settlements. Ireland has been consistent and vocal in its opposition to settlements, which are unlawful under international law. This House adopted a resolution last May that declared that the scale, pace and nature of Israel's settlement policy amounted to unlawful de facto annexation. The constant expansion of settlements has a negative impact on the living conditions of Palestinians and undermines prospects for peace by further entrenching division and inequality. I have witnessed this myself, including when I visited the Palestinian community in Nabi Samwil just outside Jerusalem in November where I saw first-hand the impact of settlement expansion in Area C.

There are clear differences in how the planning system applies to Palestinians and settlers, which negatively affects Palestinian communities on a daily basis. Settlements degrade adjacent Palestinian agricultural land, severely impacting the olive harvest in particular. They also affect the availability of already scarce water resources and cause pollution. However, settlement expansion continues, along with associated infrastructural projects designed to meet the needs of an ever-increasing settler population. I am seriously concerned by the recent announcement of further settlement expansion in the West Bank, including the Lower Aqueduct plan in East Jerusalem. These plans threaten the contiguity of a future Palestinian state, and the world should take note.

Ireland has urged the Israeli Government to cease settlement activity. I raised these issues directly in my meetings in Israel last November with President Herzog and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Yair Lapid. This is an issue that we consistently raise at the UN Security Council, including at the monthly briefing on the Middle East on 23 February.

Another issue that I wish to highlight in this debate is the intensification of settler-related violence in recent years. According to the UN, the total number of settler attacks across the West Bank that have resulted in injury and-or property damage in 2021 increased by 46% compared with the same period in 2020. The disparity in conviction rates between Israeli settlers and Palestinians who have committed acts of violence is acutely worrying. Those responsible for carrying out violent attacks must be held fully accountable, as victims of such brutal attacks deserve justice regardless of whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.

Turning to the broader issue of the space for civil society, I wish to restate my support for the essential role that civil society actors play in scrutinising the actions of governments globally, including in Ireland and Israel. As I have previously stated, I am deeply concerned by Israel's decision last October to designate certain Palestinian civil society organisations as terrorist entities. Ireland will continue to support Palestinian civil society and human rights defenders and their critical role in promoting international law, peace, human rights and democratic values. Ireland has been proactive in ensuring these issues are highlighted in the UN Security Council, including by supporting the call for a debate in November on the NGO designations as well as on announcements regarding planned expansion and the construction of illegal settlements. I raised our concerns directly in my meetings in Israel last November.

I am troubled by the ongoing tensions in East Jerusalem and the clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police that took place last Monday. Reports of excessive use of force by police must be investigated. These incidents serve only to inflame an already tense situation. Ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, I would recall the need to respect the status quoof holy sites fully and call for the utmost restraint on the part of police in line with the principles of international law. Peaceful worshippers must be allowed to exercise their right to freedom of religion and worship freely and without threats, violence or provocation in accordance with the status quo.

Ireland is firmly committed to a negotiated two-state solution that ends the occupation that began in 1967, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states, on the basis of international law, including relevant UN Security Council resolutions. That has been Ireland's position and it continues to be. We will continue to work with partners to revive a political process in line with international law - in this regard, I have been speaking to a number of international partners about how Ireland may be able to show leadership in the months ahead - that ensures equal rights and is acceptable to both parties. This is something that I state clearly and often, but I know it is not easy to achieve. Nevertheless, it is vital to establish a genuine political horizon.

The principles of equality, inclusion and human rights are essential components in the achievement of lasting peace and democracy. Repressive, discriminatory and provocative policies and actions, such as those documented in the Amnesty report, take us further away than ever from the prospect of achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.

Ireland has nine months or so left on the Security Council. As I have told some of the Deputies opposite, I intend to try to use the influence and role we have on the Security Council to make some progress through Irish leadership, in partnership with other like-minded countries, in the context of the Middle East peace process. Unfortunately, the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians has gone backwards in recent years.

There is an onus on the international community to introduce new thinking and to ensure that there is parity of esteem between both parties to this conflict. I hope that Ireland will be able to use its position and privilege on the United Nations Security Council to be able to create leverage in that space over the next nine months or so. I hope I will be able to work with other parties in this House in that regard.

6:52 pm

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I am sharing time with Deputies McDonald and Mac Lochlainn. When Amnesty International or any of the organisations that labelled the actions of Israel as apartheid they are talking about a crime against humanity. The UN Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid states that practices and policies of racial discrimination and segregation such as those employed by the Israeli state against Palestinians are crimes that violate the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. For Palestinians, this means their complete domination and oppression by the state of Israel. It means that no Palestinian is allowed to enjoy the same rights as any Jewish Israeli in the territory between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. The central tenet of the Israeli approach to the Palestinian people is to seize control of their territory. Israel sets out to achieve this through the erasure of the Palestinian identity through the denial of citizenship and nationality, and to reduce the status of Palestinian people in the eyes of the Israeli state to that of racially inferior subjects.

Palestinians are forced to endure the gauntlet of daily raids by Israeli security forces, violent attacks from illegal settlers, of being forcibly displaced from their homes and the destruction of their homes by the Israeli military to allow for the erection of illegal settlements. They are forcibly segregated. The lands fragmented, they are forced to travel separate roads while being subjected to a restrictive system of travel permits designed to reduce the Palestinian foothold on their own territory to a series of Bantustans. Palestinians endure imprisonment under administrative detention, which is detention without trial or evidence. Israel is the only country in the world that tries children in military courts. Today there are more than 200 children in detention in Israel, the majority of whom have not been convicted of any crime. Israel will not end the use of discriminatory legislation designed to exclusively target Palestinians until forced to do so by the actions of the international community.

Sinn Féin has cosigned a motion brought forward by People Before Profit. It is important that motion is acted upon because contained within it are the recommendations from Amnesty International. They touch on the immediate end of the annexation of Palestinian lands, a motion on which was passed by this House last year. Ireland was the first European country to declare that Israel has breached international law by annexing Palestinian lands. To end the destruction of Palestinian homes, the construction of illegal colonial settlements on illegally seized Palestinian lands and to end the collective punishment of the people of Gaza, ending the blockade and other restrictions on the movement of the population in Gaza, Amnesty International has called for the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against Israeli officials implicated in the crime of apartheid. As a member of the UN Security Council, Ireland has a moral responsibility to show leadership on this issue.

Ireland's role on the UN Security Council must be made to mean something. The Minister needs to begin to challenge the international mindset that exists in regard to challenging Israel on its human rights record. He needs to call it as it is and to not mince his words. The Minister needs to not be of the mindset that it is not helpful to use the word "apartheid" because that is what is happening under his watch and the watch of the international eye. He needs to state clearly that Israel is guilty of operating a policy of apartheid against Palestinians. Ireland must be seen to be consistent in the defence of international law in all instances and of human rights be that in Ukraine or Palestine. Failure by Ireland and the international community will be judged by history as complicity in the crimes of the Israeli regime.

The UN Special Committee against Apartheid was the driving force in the UN battle against apartheid South Africa. It was the engine that drove the campaign for sanctions. It needs to be re-established. It needs to reignite an international movement against apartheid. The international community also needs to repudiate the designation by Israel of the six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organisations. This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to suppress human rights organisations who are involved in essential work in highlighting the human rights abuses of the Palestinian people.

History will judge those who sit on the fence. History will shame those who bury their heads in the sand while the Palestinian people continue to suffer at the hands of the oppressive, brutal, occupying apartheid state that is Israel. The Minister must act. He cannot afford to sit on his hands and not act. He must call out Israel for the apartheid policies and apartheid regime it operates against the Palestinian people.

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Amnesty International report is clear. It is devastating in its clarity. It concludes that Israel perpetrates apartheid. It notes that Israel's civilian administration, military authorities, governmental and quasi-governmental institutions are involved in the enforcement of this system of apartheid against Palestinians. It is as frank and as clear as that. It goes on to say that the scale and seriousness of these violations documented in the report make it clear that the international community needs to urgently and drastically change its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and recognise the full extent of the crimes that Israel perpetrates against the Palestinian people, crimes that it commits daily.

Let it be said, Amnesty International is not an outlier. B'Tselem and Human Rights Watch similarly have called out Israeli apartheid, an occupying force implementing a system of apartheid, one that is blatantly and flagrantly in breach of international law. However, the Irish Government claims that the use of the term "apartheid" is not helpful. Calling out apartheid South Africa equally was not helpful to very powerful vested interests back in the day but nonetheless it was done. It was the very act of calling out and naming the apartheid regime that caused the international movement to dismantle that repulsive, criminal regime and, similarly, it must happen in respect of the Israeli state.

The Minister is not frank with Israel. He panders to Israel, but he is not on his own because all of the great and good in the international community equally pander to a state that for decades has flouted international law, a regime that has stolen the land of the Palestinian people, bulldozed their homes and terrorised and traumatised their people, including their children. The Minister said he wants to be a strong voice on international fora. We have our seat on the UN Security Council. The Minister should be that strong voice and use that seat and use it wisely. That means heeding Amnesty International. It means accepting that now is the moment that we need sanctions against the Israeli state.

We need to ensure this jurisdiction does not allow the importation or sale of products from the occupied territories and any other occupied zone. This State needs to recognise the Palestinian state while there is still something left to recognise. This State needs to be absolutely clear and unequivocal in naming the Israeli regime as an apartheid regime.

The Minister talked shockingly about his desire to have what he called parity of esteem between the parties. I am intrigued by that. Can there be parity of esteem between the oppressed and the oppressor or between the criminal and the traumatised? The Minister's job and that of the international community is not to create some phoney parity of esteem between the Israeli occupying apartheid regime and Palestinian refugees. The Minister's job and that of the international system is to bring Israel into line to ensure compliance with international law and respect for human rights. Our job internationally is to deliver freedom, liberation, self-determination and dignity to the Palestinian people. That is the Minister's job. The only question that arises is whether he is fit to take on that challenge. Is he ready and willing to lead in the way that Ireland demands and the international community needs?

We have talked and heard a lot about how the international community can move very swiftly and in a determined fashion when it chooses to. It needs to make that choice now for Palestine and for the Palestinian people.

7:02 pm

Photo of Pádraig Mac LochlainnPádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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In the 1980s, the Irish people led the way in confronting the South African apartheid regime. We think of the heroic Dunnes Stores workers who refused to handle the South African goods. They took that stand and inspired the rest of the Irish people and the then Government. Ireland led the way internationally in confronting that regime. How can we stand here in 2022 when there is overwhelming evidence of apartheid, as internationally defined in law, taking place in Israel and Palestine? B'Tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which are internationally respected human rights organisations, are rightly being quoted in recent days as trustworthy sources on what is happening with regard to the outrage that is unfolding in Ukraine. We trust those organisations in their accounts of what is happening in Ukraine, and rightly so. However, we allow their findings to be disputed without robust confrontation.

For anybody to seriously suggest that what is happening in Israel and Palestine is not apartheid is shocking to me. I have seen it with my own eyes. I have seen the apartheid wall in Jerusalem, I was in Ramallah, and I travelled to Hebron and saw what happened there. That city and community were devastated to protect hundreds of illegal settlers. I saw, on the road to Bethlehem and up to Jerusalem, the reality of Israeli apartheid. I met the families who are being forced out of their own homes in Jerusalem. I saw the settler communities that are illegal under the law, defined as a "war crime" under international law and subject to UN resolution after UN resolution. I saw those things with my own eyes. I saw the reality of how the Palestinian people in those cities were treated compared with the illegal settlers. I saw the infrastructure being provided to the illegal settler communities compared to that provided for the ancient Palestinian community in those cities. It is a damning indictment on our country that in the 1980s we led the way by confronting the South African apartheid regime and yet today we cannot even pass legislation that bans illegal settler goods. These settlements are illegal under international law and yet we engage in commerce with those who are responsible for that repugnant situation. We cannot even pass that law in this country. We cannot recognise the Palestinian state. The two-state solution has been intentionally destroyed by the Israeli state. There is no Palestinian state left because it has been destroyed, dismantled and disconnected. The Minister knows that because he has been there. He must change direction. We must go back to our roots when we stood up to South Africa.

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories on behalf of the Labour Party. The recent report of Amnesty International that we are debating was unequivocal in its findings as to the extent of land seizures, unlawful killings, restrictions on movement, denial of citizenship of Palestinians and other breaches of international law by the Israeli state. Indeed, the Minister referred to those breaches of international law. The report documents a system of oppression and domination over Palestinians which, in the words of the report, amounts to the international definition of "apartheid". The report documents evidence of policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion. Will the Minister advocate for approval of the recommendations of the Amnesty International report? He has said he does not want to use the term "apartheid" because he does not think it is helpful but it is important that we look at why the report has made that finding and the evidence base on which Amnesty International is making that judgment. We must remember the serious and ongoing breaches of international law represented in particular by the expansion of the illegal settlements which the Minister has spoken about and, indeed, condemned on behalf of Ireland. I welcome that condemnation. However, given that we have a seat on the UN Security Council and nine months left in that position, as he said, we need to see our Government doing more to express utter condemnation at the systemic discrimination that goes on against the Palestinian people.

As he also said, we also need to press further for a genuine dialogue for peace between Israel and Palestine. We need to press Israel to lift the obstacles and address the appalling conditions in which people are living, particularly in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. There are dangers to human health in those areas that are, of course, exacerbated by Covid-19. Israeli blockades impede the flow of vital humanitarian aid and medical equipment. There are enormous issues and breaches and abuses of international law going on against the Palestinian people.

In this House and the Seanad, legislators on all sides have called for action. We have called for recognition of the state of Palestine. We have called for passage of the occupied territories Bill about which my colleagues have spoken. That Bill was initiated by Senator Black in the Seanad and the Labour Party was proud to offer unequivocal support for it. The passage of that Bill through both Houses would send an important message and show Irish leadership in banning the importation of goods from occupied territories.

I am looking forward to attending the second high-level forum on Palestine with Sadaka later this month. We will hear important messages from Professor Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories. We, as legislators, need to step forward to support organisations such as Sadaka that are working so hard to advocate for the rights of Palestinians and the need for a peaceful resolution.

As we are speaking, we have heard the appalling news that more than 2,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine. I express my support for the strong words of condemnation the Minister has uttered on behalf of Ireland of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the brutal bombardment of civilians we are seeing and the brutal destruction of cities such as Kharkiv. I support the condemnation of the Russian onslaught on Kyiv we are now seeing so chillingly with the 50 km convoy. The Labour Party stands in full solidarity with the people of Ukraine at their awful time of need. I have met with the Ukrainian ambassador and expressed that view. I have stood in protest outside the Russian embassy and will do so again this weekend. Many others will also stand there as they are standing tonight in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and we will remind ourselves of how precious democracy is and how all of us in peaceful democracies must stand up and condemn the bullying, brutal tactics of Vladimir Putin and Russia.

I was a member of the foreign affairs committee when the war in Syria was going on and we were very conscious of the brutal treatment by Russia of civilians there through the government of Assad. We all have awful memories of the siege of Aleppo and I have a chilling concern that we are seeing the same tactic of brutality being used by Russia in Ukraine.

We must ensure a very strong welcome is expressed to Ukrainian refugees fleeing here and that we also take steps to ensure practical measures are advocated for and taken at EU level. One such measure would be the acceptance of national identification cards in lieu of passports for Ukrainians who are fleeing and may not have access to valid travel documentation. I ask that the Minister speak with his colleague, the Minister for Finance, to whom I have written in this regard, requesting that he advocate for the shoring up of the Ukrainian currency in order that those crossing the border have adequate funds to be able to afford basic supplies. That is a practical concern for many. I ask again that the Minister consider the expulsion of the Russian ambassador from Ireland given the appalling comments he has made seeking to justify the brutal invasion. In addition, I ask that he support the speedy accession of Ukraine to the European Union, as its Government and its ambassador in Ireland have requested.

I am conscious that Ireland has very limited time left on the UN Security Council but it is a time when we can use our voice internationally, at the most powerful level, to advocate for peace, democracy and peaceful resolution of ongoing conflicts such as that in the Middle East and the dreadful conflict in Yemen, often referred to as the forgotten conflict. We attended a briefing on the latter earlier this week. In particular, we must press hard now to see a ceasefire in Ukraine and a peaceful resolution in order to stop the terrible killing of innocent civilians, including children, that we see going on before our eyes as we watch in appalled horror from across the world.

7:12 pm

Photo of Seán HaugheySeán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the publication of the 278-page report by Amnesty International on Israel's apartheid against Palestinians. I accept its conclusions. I said as much in a previous Dáil debate in May 2021. The main conclusion of the report is that "Israel has perpetrated the international wrong of apartheid, as a human rights violation and a violation of public international law". There have been other reports that reached the same conclusion, as mentioned by other speakers. I refer in particular to reports by the Israeli NGO, B'Tselem, and Human Rights Watch. This is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories, in Israel itself and in respect of Palestinian refugees residing abroad.

The Amnesty report makes for disturbing reading. It outlines how Palestinians are dealt with as an inferior racial group and how Israel oppresses and segregates them. It shows how Israel is putting in place a regime aiming to dominate and oppress Palestinians. It does so through territorial fragmentation, segregation and control, dispossession of land and property, the denial of economic and social rights, as well as through forceable transfers, administrative detention and torture, unlawful killings, denial of basic human rights and freedoms and persecution. In short, it does so by fragmentation, segregation, discrimination and deprivation. By any standard, this is apartheid, certainly as defined in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, ICC. As we know, apartheid is a crime against humanity.

Of particular concern to me are home demolitions and forced evictions, which are happening, as we know, in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem. Palestinians are being systematically displaced and illegal settlers being moved in to replace them. This is clearly a violation of international law. Ireland has specifically criticised this policy, as the Minister said. Eleven EU countries have done so. I am pleased that Ireland has consistently outlined its concern in regard to the unequal treatment of Palestinians both in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, at the EU and UN, including the UN Security Council.

We must consider what needs to be done following the publication of this report. There have many proposals brought forward by reputable organisations, including Amnesty International and Sadaka. I received a submission yesterday from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, IPSC. These proposals should now be carefully considered by the Minister and the Government. I note that officials in the Department are studying the reports. Some of the recommendations are practical and others less so, but they all need to be given careful consideration. One thing is clear. The international community needs to change its approach in this area. As other speakers mentioned, it took a long time to do so in respect of apartheid in South Africa.

Here at home, a start was made when the Dáil passed an all-party motion last May stating that there has an been unlawful de facto annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory. Ireland became the first EU state to do this. It is clear that a two-state solution will become almost impossible if this activity is allowed to continue. The programme for Government includes a commitment to recognise the state of Palestine. The Government is now two years old. It has been said that the circumstances need to be right to do this but I would appreciate an update on the Government's thinking in this regard and whether recognition will or can be forthcoming in the lifetime of this Administration. Palestinians are entitled to be treated as human beings with equal rights and dignity. Everyone in this House should do everything possible to ensure that happens.

Photo of Chris AndrewsChris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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I am sharing time with Deputy Ward.

I welcome the opportunity for Members to speak on this groundbreaking report by Amnesty International. I commend the team at Amnesty on the years of research that went into it. I understand it took four years to complete and it is a solid piece of research. Ireland has a long and proud tradition of support for and solidarity with the people of Palestine. While many of the crimes of Israel's apartheid have long been raised in the Dáil, the EU's central involvement in the arms trade to Israel has seldom been raised. EU members have profited well from Israeli apartheid over the years. Since 2012, EU member states have sold arms to Israel to the tune of nearly €700 million per year. Between 2014 and 2018, Germany and Italy alone supplied 35% of Israel's arms imports. EU states make large profits selling deadly arms to states like Israel that frequently abuse international law and suppress and murder peaceful protestors.

Ireland currently sits on the UN Security Council and is in a prime position to bring forward proposals highlighted in the Amnesty report, such as an arms embargo. The report, along with other recent reports, clearly shows that Israel fails the standards of the EU Council's common position on the arms trade. Criterion two clearly states that there must be "[r]espect for human rights in the country of final destination as well as respect by that country of international humanitarian law".

Israel clearly does not comply with criterion two.

Last week I spoke in the Chamber of how Israel’s occupation forces shot a 13-year-old child, stripped him naked and let him bleed out on the pavement. There is a long list of these murders and crimes. In June 2018 an Israeli sniper shot Rouzan al-Najjar, a 21-year-old paramedic. She was shot through the chest and through her white coat which clearly marked her as a paramedic. She was tending to two injured protestors when she was murdered. Amnesty International believes that Rouzan was wilfully killed, making her murder a grave breach of the Geneva Convention and a war crime. Let it be clear in the Dáil that EU states are empowering Israel to carry out these war crimes and its apartheid policies. We are facilitating it and we are part of the problem. The Oireachtas needs to officially recognise Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians and there can be embargoes. The UK imposed a 12-year embargo on Israel a number of years ago under Margaret Thatcher. That was one of the few things Margaret Thatcher did well but we are not even willing to step up to the plate and do that. We have to be outspoken and we have to lead but at the moment we are not doing so. We also have to recognise that Israel is an apartheid state.

7:22 pm

Photo of Mark WardMark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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This day last week I attended a wonderful event hosted by Esker Amateur Boxing Club in Lucan. The Shamrock & Olive Tree Boxing Project is a cultural exchange aimed at the development of the sport of boxing in Ireland and Palestine. The group of boxing clubs from across Ireland, including St. Saviours Crystal Boxing Club in Waterford; St. Paul’s Amateur Boxing Club of Belfast; and Esker Amateur Boxing Club in Lucan in Dublin are co-ordinating this project. They have partnered with boxing clubs in Palestine to create a cultural and boxing exchange programme. Three clubs from Palestine, Bedu Club, Nablus Youth Club and ElBarrio Gym in Ramallah, will come together in Palestine in August 2022 to exchange a boxing programme initiative.

The Shamrock & Olive Tree Boxing Project will feature boxing coaches from Ireland taking part in seminars with their Palestinian partners to share their skills and new training methods. The project will include three-star International Boxing Association, IBA, officials from Ireland and a series of workshops and demonstrations. Training sessions between the clubs will benefit referees and judges on a local level in Palestine. The project is a brand new initiative that promotes boxing at a local and international level. The Shamrock & Olive Tree Boxing Project is seeking funds to support participants from Ireland to contribute towards travel expenses and the provision of kits and sporting equipment which they will leave in Palestine. A www.gofundme.compage has been set up for this. This is a brilliant initiative and in future it will hopefully lead to Palestinian boxers coming over to Ireland. It is a good news story that deserves all the support it gets. It will further strengthen the support and solidarity between Ireland and Palestine.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It sounds good. We might be able to support it.

Photo of Mark WardMark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I will send the Minister the link.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Deputy Brady and I requested at the Business Committee that we would have this debate on Amnesty International’s utterly damning report that Israel is a state that is operating a system of apartheid and that in doing so it is committing crimes against humanity. It called for sanctions to ensure that inhumane and inhuman system is dismantled.

We called for this debate prior to the barbaric invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin. All of us have rightly condemned the crimes against humanity that are being committed by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. The Government moved instantly - within five days - to sanction Putin’s regime and take urgent action. The strength of language that was rightly used against Putin denounced him as a barbarian, thug and warmonger, all of which are true. All of those things apply to the state of Israel in its treatment of the Palestinians and yet the Government is concerned about its use of language and does not feel it is appropriate to use the word “apartheid” when Amnesty International, the most respected human rights organisation in the world, and Human Rights Watch, within a short period of time issued these damning reports. Those reports have said that since its foundation Israel has been built on a system of oppression, domination, apartheid and racism, involving the murder of unarmed and innocent civilians on a regular basis. It also features arbitrary detention and imprisonment; land annexation; the displacement of people; and the denial of fundamental rights to 6 million Palestinians who are displaced outside of Israel in the occupied territories, including the right to return to their homes. The illegal blockade of Gaza , as is said in the report, has left Gaza in a permanent state of humanitarian crisis. People are denied access to food and water and the Arab and Palestinian population as a whole is treated as an inferior race.

Language does not get stronger than this yet the Minister wants to be careful about his language. The Minister is happy to correctly use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of Vladimir Putin but he will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians when it is being documented and detailed by two of the most respected human rights organisations in the world. This has been alleged by dozens of NGOs and can be seen by anybody who looks honestly at the decades of brutal and inhumane persecution of the Palestinians, the successive assaults on Gaza, the annexation of the land and territory and the systematic application of apartheid rules. The Minister does not want to even use the word “apartheid”, never mind bring in sanctions. It took five days for sanctions against Putin and his thugs but imposing sanctions for 70 years of oppression of the Palestinians would not be “helpful”. Amnesty International is calling for Israel to be referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Will the Government support that? It is calling for targeted sanctions against Israeli officials who are perpetuating the system of apartheid. These are the exact same type of sanctions the Government has just initiated against Vladimir Putin. Will the Government support this? The clear answer is that the Government will not.

Why is that? There is such strength of feeling about this. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Party Deputies stood up one after the other saying that the thuggery, warmongering and brutality of Putin are intolerable. They would not stand for it and they demanded that urgent action be taken but we have to be much more careful with the Palestinians and their treatment. I do not even have time to go into the briefing I organised this week on the people of Yemen and how Saudi Arabia, the most despotic regime in the world which has been armed to the teeth by the United States, Britain France and others, has killed 337,000 people there in the past five years, including 10,000 children. Will there be any action against the United States, Britain or France for arming it or will there be any action against Saudi Arabia itself? No. There will be no action, sanctions or outrage, only words of concern. We will raise it and call on them to do things.

If the Government is going to have moral standards then they have to be consistent. Otherwise they are not standards at all; they are just cynicism. We all know the reason the standards are not consistent. It is that to call out the apartheid state of Israel would be to run foul of the concerns of certain states that are presenting themselves as defenders of democracy and so on, such as the United States, the UK, Germany and other powers. Their relationship with and support and backing for Israel mean that the EU’s moral credentials are bankrupt.

It is not willing to take the action. We go along with that. That is not acceptable. I appeal to the Minister to uphold the tradition this country has, going back its foundation, of opposing oppression of peoples and standing up against brutal powers that are willing to subjugate people such as the Palestinians or any others.

Show some moral backbone. Show some consistency and support the motion we have circulated to every Deputy in this House, which Sinn Féin, a number of the left Independents and People Before Profit have now signed, calling for the adoption of the recommendations of the Amnesty International report and for the sanctions it recommends that must follow. Will the Minister support those things? If he does not, all the words of concern and raising of the issue will mean nothing to the Palestinian people.

7:32 pm

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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It is positive we have this time to discuss the Amnesty International report and the situation in Israel and Palestine. The report has detailed a cruel system of control over Palestinians by Israel. Palestinians have been left impoverished and in a constant state of fear and anxiety. The report ultimately concludes that this occupation and control meets the definition of apartheid under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and under the United Nations anti-apartheid convention.

While there has been much attempt to discredit this report, it needs to be looked at in context, such as the context of the Human Rights Watch report that talks about the oppression of Palestinians, which the organisation says "has reached a threshold and a permanence that meets the definitions of the crimes of apartheid and persecution". Even before the Human Rights Watch report, we had the report from B'Tselem, the Israeli NGO, which said "One organizing principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group ... over another".

These reports do not come out of nowhere. We have been hearing this for a long time. Many other reports highlight this embedded, entrenched, institutional discrimination. Breaking the Silence has regularly reported the testimony of soldiers who have talked about how they would ignore the crimes of settlers and would arrest Palestinians and how settlers would throw stones and assault Palestinians while the soldiers would ignore them and arrest the Palestinians for doing the same or even for doing nothing.

Bimkom, the Israeli NGO of planners for human rights, has regularly spoken out about the entrenched racism in the Israeli planning system, especially when it comes to the administration of occupied Palestine. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has spoken out against racist laws and laws that are applied unevenly, depending on whether one is Israeli or Palestinian. It has detailed in the past at least 50 laws, if not more, that have entrenched discrimination on the statute book.

The NGO BADIL talks often about the Palestinian refugees' right of return and how this is enshrined in international law. This right of return has been utterly ignored. Compare that with the law of return and how anyone seeking to make aliyahto move to Israel can return. Discrimination is entrenched in that.

Like many other Members of this House, I have seen this discrimination at first hand. I have stood on the rubble of a Palestinian home that was demolished. Not only was the home demolished, the family was given a tent by the Red Cross, and because it was pitched on the same property, it was considered a building and the Israelis came and demolished the tent.

While I stood on the rubble of this house, I could look over a settler-only road, across the separation barrier, to a hill opposite where there was an illegal outpost of the Neve Daniel settlement. This outpost was not just illegal in the way we talk about settlements being illegal in terms of international law, which they are and which the Minister recognises, but even illegal under Israeli law. This outpost was never going be demolished. Here we have a Palestinian home that is demolished and, a hundred yards away, an Israeli home that will never be demolished. What is that if not entrenched legal discrimination?

As I stood there, I could see the cars on the settler-only road flying into Israel, whereas just up the road from it was a checkpoint choked with Palestinians struggling to get through to get some work to earn some money to feed their impoverished families, as the Amnesty International report says. I have seen settlers throwing stones and assaulting Palestinians while soldiers have done nothing. All a Palestinian has to do is look at the settler wrong and he or she will be arrested, exactly as the Breaking the Silence report has said.

I have visited the Aida and Dheisheh refugee camps. I have seen refugees denied their international law rights to return to their homes. Again, this is entrenched legal discrimination. All of that adds up to apartheid. It is not just that, but what we see in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians is a deliberate inflicting on Palestinians of a way of life calculated essentially to bring about their destruction in part and the destruction of their communities. That is what we are witnessing here, ultimately.

We have seen an attempt at a rebuttal within this complex of the Amnesty International report. All we heard was the same regurgitation of the same tired debunked hasbara, the same lies that are told to justify the occupation. The crushing reality of the occupation never got a look in. The settlement building, the wall, the checkpoints, the home demolitions, the random arrests, the ID cards and the arbitrary nature of all of this kind of administration of the occupied Palestinian territories did not get a look in. All we got was the same tired hasbarathat has all been debunked before. To listen to it was infuriating.

If international law is to be real, we must find a way to enforce it. To allow one state to act with impunity emboldens others to do the same. We have seen it in recent weeks with regard to Ukraine. We also see it in Western Sahara with the Moroccan occupation there. They know they can get away with it because they know their friends in Israel are getting away with it. If we allow the breach of international law to happen anywhere, it becomes an insipid cancer that eats away at peace and prosperity everywhere.

Palestinians are looking on, hurt and confused and wanting to know why they are different and not getting the same response. I spoke to one Palestinian during the week and the hurt was palpable as that person spoke about this.

We need to ensure the International Criminal Court is strengthened and can act on this and that we support and fight against that. What is the use in that? The Goldstone report detailed strongly the concerns about breaches of international law, and again nothing happened. It is deeply infuriating. We need to find ways to enforce our commitments under the Geneva Convention.

Deputy Haughey talked about recognition earlier. The Minister has spoken about recognition and said we had the most leverage with the threat of recognition before we actually do it. However, what leverage are we getting? All I see is the Israelis acting with impunity and ignoring what the world says. If we do not get any leverage out of it, what is the benefit to it?

In terms of the cost of recognition, let us look at what happened to Sweden when it recognised Palestine - nothing. There were a few angry press releases and some people returned IKEA furniture but, certainly-----

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is not true.

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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Well, in my conversations with-----

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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They could not get into Israel.

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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In my conversations with members of the department of foreign affairs in Sweden, they told me that they had no problem and faced no restrictions. The department of foreign affairs in Sweden told me it faced no problems in terms of its programmes within Palestine after the recognition. IKEA may have had some furniture returned but that was about it.

If we are not getting leverage from it and there will not be a cost from it, surely this is one small symbolic act we can do to support the Palestinians.

We all stood together in this House to recognise and call out the annexation that is taking place, which is a crime in international law. The Minister has spoken out in the past about the settlements being illegal and in breach of international law.

These criminal enterprises are happening. If a company here was engaged in criminal enterprises, would we allow it to bid for government contracts? Companies that are engaged in criminal enterprise over there are bidding for government contracts here. There is a disconnect there. Surely, we should be saying that anyone involved in a criminal enterprise, whether at domestic level or internationally, should not be getting Government contracts.

I share the frustration of Deputy Boyd Barrett. This is a deeply frustrating and upsetting subject. I am conscious that I am in a very safe, privileged place, whereas Palestinians are living under occupation and, right now, some of them are probably being arrested and their homes raided.

We need to find ways to do more because what we are doing is not enough. The occupation is not just continuing; it is grinding on and down and becoming more entrenched. The lives of Palestinians are being destroyed as a result.

7:42 pm

Photo of Johnny MythenJohnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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The report by Amnesty International is a scathing indictment of the policies of the state of Israel towards the Palestinian people. It is not an easy read. It sets out a catalogue of oppression, state discrimination and the widespread denial of basic human rights. It contains graphic detail on what it is like to live under apartheid, which is a series of criminal policies carefully designed to break the spirit and resolve of people in order to steal their land. Make no mistake about it. This is about land.

To complete this programme of theft, the Israeli authorities must remove the very idea of Palestine. The reality of the Israeli vision for the Palestinian people is played out nightly. Doors are kicked down by violent thugs in uniform. Children scream as parents and siblings are torn from their beds. This would be bad enough if it was mindless violence but it is much more than that. It is a concentrated campaign of coercion, ruthlessly administered by Israeli security forces in the name of their government with the objective of terrorising people from their homes and land. When Palestinians cannot be terrorised from their homes, the Israelis use huge diggers to raze their homes to the ground, leaving whole families homeless. On the site where Palestinian homes once stood, they erect illegal settlements in their place in blatant breach of international law.

Apartheid is a cruel and inhumane system and a gross abuse of human rights. It is the splitting up of families and segregation of Palestinian communities. It is being forced to use a different road. Like the apartheid system of South Africa, Palestinians are being forced into Bantustans, that is, fragmented segments of inferior land where a person requires the permission of his or her oppressor through the issuing of permits before he or she is allowed to travel, even to visit families.

The Israeli authorities recently undertook to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organisations, for which they offered not a sliver of reliable evidence. Two of these NGOs are funded by the Irish taxpayer. This was a blatant attempt to suppress the role of those organisations in bringing to the attention of the whole world the searing oppression visited upon innocent Palestinians. The failure of the Government to attempt to counter the chilling effect of this move has been disappointing. Last week, I was disappointed that this institution - the seat of the Irish Government - allowed room for an apologist for the inhumane policies of the Israeli Government a platform in the audiovisual room of the Dáil complex. She spoke nothing but Israeli propaganda.

The Irish Government has a seat on the UN Security Council. Ireland must use this seat to engage with the Israeli Government to stop the persecution of the Palestinian people and the annexation of their homelands. Last year, the reality of the Israeli de facto annexation of Palestinian territories was recognised through the motion passed by the Dáil.

The people of Ireland can and always will identify with oppressed people across the world. Just as we must help the Ukrainian people as best we can, we must also stand against apartheid in all its shapes and forms. We must support the Palestinians and their rightful place among the nations. There can be no two-state solution if a Palestinian state is no longer viable.

Photo of Gary GannonGary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I welcome the opportunity to discuss Amnesty International's vitally important report entitled, Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: A Cruel System of Domination and a Crime Against Humanity. The report details how Israeli authorities are forcing a system of apartheid against all Palestinians living under their effective control. This include Palestinians living in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as well as Palestinian refugees in other countries.

The report documents how Israel treats Palestinians as an inferior racial group, segregating and oppressing them wherever it has control over their rights. It provides new evidence of the institutionalised nature of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and how Israeli laws and policies are designed specifically to deprive Palestinians of their rights.

I will reference some of the findings of the report. I do so knowing that I sit in a Parliament where across the Chamber, be they in government or opposition, all parties recognise the findings; we just call them by a different name. Does anyone in this Chamber, on the Government side or elsewhere, believe that illegal settlements, enforced evictions against the Palestinian people by the Israeli state, demolitions, torture, detentions and unlawful killings, as evidenced in the report, are not taking place? I do not believe anyone does but we tie ourselves up in phraseology. I believe the Government accepts that these things are happening and being inflicted upon the Palestinian people by the state of Israel, yet we tie ourselves up in phraseology. This is not about phraseology or whether a particular word is helpful. It is a matter of law, and international law is clear that such a system of domination and oppression by one racial group over another constitutes the crime against humanity of apartheid. If we recognise that these systems of oppression are in place, it is beyond insulting that we quibble over phraseology.

The Taoiseach is on record as saying the Government would not use the term "apartheid" in describing Israel’s policies against the Palestinians. Again, this is not about the terms used. The Amnesty International report provides evidence that makes it very clear that, as a matter of law, the crime of apartheid is being perpetrated. It is not a glib term or phrase. Amnesty International employs international law in the specific context and finds groundings in law. Again, it is not a phraseology. It is about law and respect for the rule of law, respect for human rights and the dignity of millions of Palestinians, which the international community has failed to protect for decades. As we equivocate, we make ourselves complicit in that.

The report by Amnesty International makes a variety of recommendations, one of which was repeated by Amnesty in its engagement with the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence last week. It called on Ireland as a member of the UN Security Council to "impose targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes, against Israeli officials most implicated in the crime of apartheid." It called on Ireland to support action to "impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel." The embargo should cover the "direct and indirect supply, sale or transfer, including transit and trans-shipment ... of all weapons, munitions and other military and security equipment, including the provision of training and other military and security assistance." It seems an extraordinarily reasonable request. If we believe the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation because of its grotesque invasion and the terror it is inflicting upon the people of Ukraine are legitimate and that we moved quickly and swiftly, as we should have, what is the difference? Why have we been so slow to act? There is no justification.

Amnesty International is calling on Ireland to support actions to explore avenues to bring perpetrators of crimes under international law to account, in particular, the state of Israel's failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible for crimes against humanity and other human rights violations perpetrated against the Palestinian population in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. This should include referring the entire situation to the International Criminal Court or establishing an international tribunal to try alleged perpetrators of international crimes. I fully agree with Amnesty International.

Does the Minister wish to comment?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The International Criminal Court is looking at international crimes in the West Bank. We support that.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Amnesty International wants apartheid brought into that - additionally.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am not disagreeing with the Deputy.

Photo of Gary GannonGary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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The issue is the phraseology of apartheid and whether the Government will support the use of that particular word, which has a different weight behind it.

Apartheid is both an international wrong and a crime against humanity. When a crime against humanity is committed, the international community has an obligation to hold the perpetrators to account. There is hope that by shedding more light on Israel's discriminatory system of domination over the Palestinian people, Ireland will intensify efforts to dismantle the harmful policies and practices that prevent Palestinians from living with equal rights and dignity. Amnesty believes that this can only be achieved when the international community holds the Israeli Government and other complicit parties accountable.

Apartheid has no place in the world. States that choose to make allowances for Israel will find themselves on the wrong side of history, as was outlined by Amnesty to the foreign affairs committee last week. It is believed that Israel must dismantle the system of apartheid and must start treating Palestinians as human beings with equal rights and dignity.

At this point I also want to talk about the importance of the occupied territories Bill. I know that the Minister and people across the Chamber find differences with me regarding the importance of the occupied territories Bill. I believe the occupied territories Bill is absolutely essential. It would not simply be targeted at the Israeli state. It would be targeted at occupied territories elsewhere, such as in the Western Sahara, possibly in eastern Europe at this moment in time and in other places too. It means that we make no equivocation. It would mean that we would not be hypocritical. We do not say that when bombs are falling and being inflicted upon one people by another powerful force, that this is different to that situation in another place. Right now, the international community is making huge efforts of solidarity by targeting the Russian Federation. The people of Palestine must be looking on and asking, "Why are we different? Do the bombs not hurt us as much?" The torture, the demolitions, the manner in which their homes are being destroyed; how is that different? There is an obligation on the Irish Republic to not be hypocritical in how we engage. I understand that we want to be seen as neutral actors, but we cannot be neutral in this injustice, be it on the Ukrainian people, on the Palestinian people or anywhere where oppression is being enforced on one group by a powerful force.

7:52 pm

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Israel operates an apartheid regime. The report by Amnesty International, which is subtitled “a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity”, calls for Israel to be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. The obvious question is who will hold Israel accountable. It should be said that the Irish position is much stronger than in most of the western world. Yet, it is extremely telling that we refuse to call the Israeli regime for the apartheid that it is. If Ireland cannot state the truth, then who will?

Ireland knows better than most the devastation and implication of occupation, oppression and aggression by a powerful neighbour. If we cannot repeat the indisputable fact that Israel is responsible for criminal, oppressive acts of apartheid, then who will? Israel does what it does because it can. The only way it will stop is if the world forces it to stop. Just as the world said “Stop” to apartheid South Africa and then acted accordingly, we must say “Stop” to apartheid Israel and act accordingly. However, somebody must take the lead. If it is not Ireland, then who? If not now, then when?

How many more international laws must be broken? How many more Palestinian families must be displaced? How many more Palestinian children must grow up under a government that systematically discriminates against and oppresses them? How many more of these children must be killed before the world says “Stop”? We have to tell the Israeli Government that it will be an international pariah until it engages in a meaningful peace and reconciliation process, until it withdraws from the occupied territories and until it adopts a semblance of humanity in its treatment of its Palestinian neighbours. The time to act is now. The first to act must be Ireland and the Irish people.

Photo of Jennifer Carroll MacNeillJennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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We stand here during dark days across Europe. The actions of Russia show the fragility of the global order that has been underpinned by active democratic processes in most countries for over three decades. Today, that is under threat, as it has been this week. As a democratic people and as parliamentarians in this Chamber, we have a duty to support and advocate for those who are seeking freedom, the right to expression and peace across the globe.

Tonight, people of all ages shelter underground in makeshift bunkers, metro stations and hospital basements in both Kyiv and Kharkiv. It is a brutal and sudden conflict, which has had a devastating impact on the people of Ukraine, for whom it is hard to find appropriate words. I did not have the opportunity to contribute last night to the debate, but want to take the opportunity to update the House and update the Minister on the family to which I referred in the Topical Issue matter on Thursday of last week, the first day of that invasion. That family is now here in Ireland. A grandmother, an aunt and two children have been reunited with their beloved, daughter, sister-in-law and cousins. The gentleman of the family could not leave Ukraine. My thoughts are with him and with others tonight.

This requires that we reflect on the fact that the conflict in Ukraine shows how clearly fragile our world order is. I suggest that if anything can come from that, as other Deputies have said, it must be an increased urgency to resolve the many other conflicts that have predated this terrible war on our Continent. That involves dialogue, respect for democracy and using our place to call out those things that are wrong, as well as highlighting and amplifying issues that can lead to conflict resolution.

As the Minister knows, I am a member of both of the parliamentary friendships groups that are reflected here tonight. The Ireland-Israel parliamentary friendship group has, on the Israeli side, one male Jewish member of the Knesset and one female Arab member of the Knesset. I am also a member of the cross-party Oireachtas friends of Palestine group and I have been since it was established for this Dáil. I do that out of a genuine interest in conflict resolution in the region, as well as a desire to see both communities thrive and live well side-by-side. To be frank, after many years of progress and dialogue in the past, the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian people has gone backwards.

We must in this House stand with international legal norms, rules-based systems and the protection of human rights. The actions of successive Israeli Governments in relation to settlements in the West Bank is wrong. I want to state and add my opposition to what is the relentless and illegal expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Similarly, the practice of forced evictions, demolitions and relentless encroachment into other lands is wrong, illegal and destructive to the opportunity for peace. I have visited the West Bank, as I have visited Israel. I have seen this, as other Deputies have described, in Bethlehem, near Ramallah. It is unlawful, it is a barrier to conflict resolution and it is a barrier to peace. It is directly contradictory to Israel’s democracy, which is a democratic, rules-based system and to the values of a democratic rules-based system. We must also recognise that there are many among the Israeli political system and the Israeli people who also condemn that. They look instead towards measures that will develop and deliver the opportunity for peace and conflict resolution. Israel must comply with international law, as must every other country. I recognise how Ireland consistently raises this within its role on the Security Council in the UN.

Here tonight, we are democrats in a freely elected Parliament. I have to recognise as well that Israel is also a democracy, with a strong Supreme Court, protections for the rights of women, the LGBTI community, freedom of expression and a diversity in political representation. It is a place of political dialogue and criticism of the Government by parliamentarians. What we all hope for in this House, and we have all said it, is to see a two-state solution, for two strong, different, independent and preferably democratic states, with the protection of human rights in both, with the protection of minorities in both, with an end to violence and violence of language. That means ending and demolishing settlements. It means holding elections and enabling a strong representation of the Palestinian people to enable their own self-determination and their own self-governance. It means an end to the language that suggests the ending of the state of Israel. It means celebrating those areas of collaboration and friendship, which do occur. It means celebrating and recognising minorities and highlighting where that does happen as much as legitimately criticising where it does not. There are people in Israel and across the Palestinian territory who share goals of peace for the future. Their political representatives deserve amplification, support and engagement. Those representatives that amplify violence, settlement building and racist language, on both sides, deserve our round condemnation.

I had a constituent email me today to highlight that Irish people and the Irish State have friends and partnerships among the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. Our shared goal is conflict resolution. The steps to be taken to achieve that are to identify and amplify the champions of peace building for the future. We as a Parliament and as a democracy can contribute to, support and engender that.

Photo of Patricia RyanPatricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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While I welcome the attention that is rightly being focused on Ukraine, we must not forget the genocide that is being perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people. I support the calls for the Russian ambassador to be expelled, but the Israeli ambassador should have been expelled a long time ago.

There have been double standards on the part of many, not least some members of Kildare County Council, which recently unanimously requested the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs to expel the Russian ambassador. The same council in May 2017, albeit with some different members, refused to support the flying of the Palestinian flag to express solidarity with the people of Palestine, who have endured continuing crimes of apartheid committed by Israel.

I was shocked last week to see that Yoseph Haddad had been given a platform within the grounds of our national Parliament. Mr. Haddad had stated he travelled to Ireland to fight against the lies of the recent Amnesty International report. The report is the latest evidence of Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people following the Human Rights Watch report of last year. Mr. Haddad has praised Israel's attack on Palestinian civil society, including the classing of six NGOs as terrorist groupings and the shoot-to-kill tactics used by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank. My instinct was not to attend his appearance but I could not let his propaganda go unchallenged. My presence obviously irked Mr. Haddad because he tried to misrepresent me on Facebook by claiming I had asked him what he thought of the UN. In fact, I had asked him why the Israeli Government has such contempt for international law, given it is in breach of almost 50 UN resolutions. Almost half of all country-specific resolutions have been about Israel.

If there had been time, I would also have asked Mr. Haddad how, as a Christian Arab, he can condone the murder of children, the targeting of vulnerable adults such as Muhammad Al-Ajlouni and the deliberate targeting of Palestinian olive groves and other sources of income, which to the people of Ireland looks very much like ethnic cleansing. I would also like to have asked him what his response was to the call by the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem at the end of last year when they said the authorities had failed to curb assaults against Christians and the desecration of their sites.

Mr. Haddad and his ilk will no doubt paint me as antisemitic, as they do to anyone who challenges the Israeli narrative. It is not antisemitic to call out evil deeds perpetrated by the Israeli regime, not all of whom are Jewish. We must hate the sin, not the sinner.

8:02 pm

Photo of Cathal BerryCathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I will not speak for long, given my views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are well known at this stage. I very much welcome the report from Amnesty International. It may not be universally accepted, but it is certainly consistent with many similar reports in recent years and it chimes with my experience in the region over the past decade. Based on the report and what is happening on the ground, we can understand the inequality, discrimination, lack of freedom of movement, illegal settlements and forced evictions, and it is good that all of that has finally been catalogued in a comprehensive document.

I welcome some of the recommendations of the report and only wish they were easy to implement, not least in respect of the Gaza Strip, where the completely unjustified blockade should be lifted. Moreover, in respect of East Jerusalem, there should be a halt to the illegal settlements, while in the West Bank, there should be freedom of movement without any discrimination and a right of return for all the Palestinian refugees throughout the region and their descendants. They are noble yet basic aspirations; if only they would be implemented.

I greatly appreciate the Government's position - I think it is the correct one to adopt – supporting a two-state solution, with the end of the occupation that began in 1967, and with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. How realistic does the Minister consider that goal to be? Is it a consensus position among the international community or is Ireland an outlier? Are there main players in the globe who disagree with that position? What is holding us back from getting to it?

While I recognise the geopolitical realities in the region and on the Security Council, everything has changed utterly in the past week. There is an opportunity now for us to look at the Middle Eastern conflict, and indeed conflicts across the globe, through a very different prism, namely, that of the Ukrainian situation. Some of the calls from Deputies during this debate have been very reasonable. I appreciate that the Government's posture is one of diplomacy, but have we come to the point where we must move from advocacy towards compulsion? That is the question we have to ask. People can rightly ask where the sanctions are in this case, where the travel bans are, where the political isolation is and whether it has come to that. I appreciate diplomacy is the best way to go, but compulsion is an option to be considered.

Finally, I hate to use the Ukrainian crisis as an opportunity because it is a terrible tragedy, but we could use it as an opportunity from a Middle Eastern point of view. I would be grateful to hear the Minister's views on this. There is a relatively new Administration in the White House, which will run, we hope, for a further three years, and it is the same story in the Knesset, where there is a relatively new coalition government, with an Arab party as part of the coalition for the first time ever. Furthermore, there is now, I hope, a much more cohesive, organised and effective European Union. I do not know what the status of the Middle Eastern peace process is at the moment. Is any shuttle diplomacy going on? Is any entity or country taking the lead globally? Given that there seems to be a vacuum in that regard, does the Minister see the EU as being able to fill that vacuum and take a more leading role? It has much more credibility globally owing to how it has acted in the past week. Could the same credibility be applied to the Middle East?

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I am sharing time with Deputy Connolly.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on the significant Amnesty International report on Israel's apartheid against Palestinians, which Amnesty describes as a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity. Some of us have long known that Israel is an apartheid state, but we can hide from that fact no longer. It is now written in black and white. What are we going to do about it? There are simply no excuses left. We must come out in full support and solidarity with Palestine and its people. As a country, we can no longer pretend we support Palestinians while continuing to facilitate this apartheid system and these terrible crimes against humanity. The previous speaker referred to an Arab party now being in government. In South Africa, there are black policemen; it is the same thing.

The Amnesty report is a bleak and sobering read. It states that Palestinians living in Israel and the occupied territory are disadvantaged according to every well-being indicator for which measures are available. More than 80% of the population depends on international assistance. It found that institutionalised segregation is evident in all aspects of Palestinian life under Israeli control and that Israel's laws and practices deployed against the Palestinian people amount to apartheid.

I might compare our stance on Palestinian and events of a similar nature with our stance on the recent invasion of Ukraine. I note with interest how quickly the entire world imposed sanctions on Russia in response to Putin's violation of international law. This is completely justified and I fully support this move, but we must ask why the same cannot be done to Israel. The shocking fact is that, despite the world knowing about human rights abuses and international law violations that have been happening in Israel and the occupied territory for decades, not a single economic or diplomatic sanction has been placed on Israel. We need to ask what the difference is. Is it that Israel is a de facto member of the EU? There has been talk about the EU having a role to play, but that role is not a good one.

The Minister recently announced that 20,000 Ukrainians will seek refuge in Ireland and that is welcome. However, when the crisis in Kabul emerged last summer, the Government provided fewer than 200 places for Afghan refugees. Again, what is the difference? War is war, no matter where it is. People fled Afghanistan due to war and people are fleeing Ukraine due to war. They should be treated no differently.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It was more than double that number.

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Was it 400?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It was more than that.

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Was it 500?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It was slightly more than that too.

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Was it 600?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It was in or around that. The Deputy should have his facts right.

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Okay. There were 600 Afghan refugees, compared with 20,000 Ukrainian refugees. No matter what the person’s skin tone, every human life should have the right to live a life free from war and oppression.

We have turned our backs on Palestine for too long. We have ignored its people's cries and stayed silent in response to the hideous crimes committed against them.

The Minister has been outspoken in the House here in relation to it, but what actually happens on foot of that? The Minister goes to Europe and says he has had meetings at European level, but Europe just decides to let things continue on.

We know what we have to do. The report clearly sets it out. We need to ban all products from Israeli settlements. The Government needs to publicly and openly recognise that Israel is an apartheid state and use all the political and diplomatic tools we have to ensure Israel implements the recommendations outlined in the Amnesty report. We must begin to right decades of wrongs. We can stay silent no longer. The EU cannot continue to support and facilitate Israel's apartheid state in Ireland's name.

8:12 pm

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There might be a little discretion, given that many speakers did not turn up. I will leave it to the Acting Chairman, Deputy Murnane O'Connor.

I listened to the Minister's speech. He spoke about being deeply troubled and about matters being "acutely worrying". He said "I am seriously concerned", and words to that effect. I note the Department is examining the report. If a busy Deputy can read the report, I am sure the Department can read the report quicker than it is reading it. The Minister might have had some reaction to it tonight because it is utterly damning. I say that reluctantly because I stand in solidarity with the Jewish people on what they have suffered.

What is happening to the Palestinian people has been set out clearly in the report. They look at the different segments - the occupied territories and areas A, B and C. They look at East Jerusalem, at Gaza and at a citizen within Israel. It is a nuanced report. It is set out. I have read every word of it. The report sets out their conclusions and recommendations. I would like to hear from the Minister what he has to say in relation to it. We know what the Taoiseach is saying. The Taoiseach is uncomfortable with the word "apartheid". The Minister does not think it advances the issue but actually this is what Amnesty is saying, which is more important. Amnesty is not saying that Israel is an apartheid state. They are saying Israel is carrying out an apartheid system.

On the basis of approximately five years' research and based on the research of the other human rights organisations, they set it out, clearly and factually. Therefore, when I hear people saying that this is lies or a set of lies, I would like to know where the lies are. I do not mind dialogue but if we are to make statements such as that, let us see where the lies are.

When we look at this report, we are told it "concludes that the State of Israel considers and treats Palestinians as an inferior non-Jewish racial group." Listen to that abhorrent language that we heard leading up to and during the Second World War in relation to Jewish people themselves. Now that is the system. That is the way Palestinian people are being treated.

An earlier section of the report looks at security concerns. Certainly, Israel has security concerns but Amnesty came to the conclusion that the "element of genuine security considerations has been far outweighed by the clear, and illegitimate, intent to dominate and oppress." They looked at the security concerns and came back and said that such concerns have been "far outweighed" by what is going on here. The report uses phrases like "widespread and systematic". It makes it clear that "discriminatory, segregationist laws, policies and practices are systematic." After careful consideration of the factual findings, the report states that they form part of a widespread as well as systematic attack directed against the Palestinian population and that the crimes committed within this context constitute crimes against humanity.

We often talk about a rule-based order. Russia has clearly carried out an appalling invasion of Ukraine against the rule-based order, but what rules apply to Israel? If we ignore an Amnesty report that is modest, nuanced and based on years of research, we will have done nothing except express our worry and concern in relation to the designation of six organisations as terrorist organisations, and we fund two of them from public money.

The report sets out clearly - I was going to say "in a fool's guide" but that is inappropriate language - the conclusions and recommendations targeted at this country, the UN and the UN Security Council. I am over time. I will finish on this. It has been a quick debate. I and other colleagues asked for statements so that we would have some action from the Government. If the Minister will not act on it, he should tell us that and let language mean something so that we know where we stand with him. If the Minister agrees with us, we will stand with integrity, not only for the Palestinian people but for the people of Russia who are out demonstrating and the people of Ukraine so that they will know where they stand with language. Truth is not the first casualty of war; language is. With that language, truth goes by the board, we get a particular narrative, we join in with that narrative, or otherwise we are ostracised and demonised. If we are feeling that when we stand up here, I can only imagine what it is like for the Palestinian people. I thank the Acting Chairman for her discretion.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank all the Deputies who contributed this evening.

Certainly, the reading of this report shines a strong spotlight on everything that is wrong and illegal, and unacceptable, about how Palestinians are treated by the Israeli state. I have been consistent on this issue that Ireland is a country that needs to use its influence in the UN, in the UN Security Council, in the EU and in other international forums, such as the human rights council which we will use tomorrow on this issue, to speak out in a way that can try to bring about change. My priority here is not to focus on protest or language for the sake of it. It is to try to find a way to change reality on the ground. That is why I have chosen engagement to do that as opposed to making statements and using language that, I believe, will potentially isolate Ireland on this issue. I have been consistent in that approach for the past number of years.

I have been to Israel and Palestine five or six times now as Minister for Foreign Affairs, which is more than any other country I have been to outside of the European Union. I have done so because I want Ireland to be involved in this issue, and because I know that Irish people care about it and are knowledgeable in relation to it.

When people say that they want me to use our position on the Security Council to speak up, I say that we are doing that. Every month we speak up on this issue. We did so again on 22 February. When people say to me that they want Ireland to make a difference on this issue, I say that is what we are trying to do. We are undoubtedly now seen as the most vocal country in the European Union on the Middle East peace process in terms of getting across a Palestinian perspective as well as holding the Israeli Government to account in terms of international law.

A number of months ago, we decided to effectively agree a motion in this House calling out de facto annexation in the West Bank because of the strategic nature, pace and extent of Israeli settlement expansion across the West Bank. People made the case for that motion and they were right. We called that out. Many people said to me that if we did that, it would create a domino effect across the European Union and other parliaments would do the same. We were right to do what we did that night but it did not create a domino effect across the European Union, even though I have spoken to many of my colleagues explaining why we did it and suggesting that they should do the same.

If we are serious in this Parliament about trying to protect the Palestinians and to create a relationship with Israel that can help to change Israeli Government policy towards Palestinians, we have to engage. That is not achieved by expelling the Israeli ambassador. You cannot say we need to engage through the UN Security Council with the Israeli Government to try to bring about change in the Middle East and at the same time cut off our diplomatic channels for communication with a country. That is not consistent.

I care about this issue as much as the Deputies opposite do.

I too have stood in UNRWA schools speaking to young teenage girls about their future, hemmed in in Gaza, unable to fulfil their full potential because of a blockade. I am driven by that too in terms of the commitments that I have given on behalf of our Government and country in wanting to help those people to a better future. I have done the same across the West Bank, visiting people's homes and farms at different times. I have been speaking to Bedouin communities, who have been pushed out of their lands. I have seen the settlement infrastructure, strategically linking settlement to settlement across the West Bank. Let us be clear: the outcome that we are looking for here is the same - a two-state solution; two peoples that respect each other living in peace side by side; an end to illegal occupation, an end to relentless expansion of settlements; an end to forced evictions; an end to impunity on the back of settler violence towards Palestinian communities; and an end to violence against Israel coming from Palestinian sources too, in particular from terrorist organisations in Gaza.

If we are serious about being a force for change in this space, and using our position in the European Union and using our influence on the Security Council, we have to build an alliance to do that.

8:22 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That is not the point.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We do not do that by speaking in an entirely different way from everybody else and creating an impression that Ireland is out on its own. That is the difference in the approach between me and many of the Members opposite. It is a judgment call politically in how we should approach that. I agree with Deputy Berry, whom I know has served time in the Middle East, and has been in either UNIFIL or UNDOF, or perhaps both. One of the reasons Irish people are so knowledgeable and interested in this part of the world is because close to 50% of our Defence Forces have served in UNIFIL or UNDOF at some point in their career. That drives more knowledge and concern and a sense of injustice across society in terms of what continues to happen across the Middle East, in particular towards the Palestinians.

Do I believe a two-state solution is still possible? Yes, I do. Do I believe that people are actively looking to undermine it as weeks and months go by? Yes, I do. Am I worried about the possible illegality of the recent announcements by the Israeli Government on the strategic nature of the latest settlement expansion that is being announced to essentially cut off Palestinian communities from each other in the context of a future Palestinian state? Yes, I am worried about that. Yes, it is illegal, and, yes, I call it out. Do I want to engage with an Israeli government? Yes, I do as well. Do I want to work with the Palestinian Authority to create a more credible political leadership across Palestine? Yes, I want to do that too. I have been working with other countries to try to help do that, both in the region and in the EU and elsewhere. I will continue to do that. It is my judgment that if we isolate ourselves by the strength of language that we use at this stage, even though we may passionately believe in that, then my job becomes more difficult in trying to create that consensus.

Deputy Boyd Barrett is correct that the EU has responded in an extraordinary way to the shocking violence that we are seeing as war is waged on Ukraine from Russia. It has been an extraordinary response. I have never seen anything like it in my 23 years of politics linked to the Union. If we could respond like that to other conflicts around the world, whether in Yemen, Ethiopia over the past year, Afghanistan or Syria, that would be a powerful thing. If we could create that kind of consensus, drive and influence in the context of encouraging and pushing for peace in the Middle East, that would be a powerful thing too, but to achieve that, consensus has to be achieved, or at least partial consensus by building an alliance of countries that are willing to push in that direction. Ireland does not have the capacity to impose sanctions on its own. Ireland does not have the capacity to impose an arms embargo on its own, not that we sell arms anyway, but we can create momentum around that kind of activity by creating a narrative that is agreed by other countries in the EU. That builds momentum - the kind of momentum that we have created in the context of the horrors of the war in Ukraine right now.

The approach that I defend and take is one of engagement with an Israeli Government that is highly diverse and that has multiple partners to it, including Arab partners. I have invested in trying to build a relationship with the Israeli Foreign Minister, and I make no apologies for that. That is what Ireland should be doing as a member of the international community and as a country that wants to change Israeli policy towards Palestinians. I will also work with others in an effort to try to build momentum in that space.

In the meantime, we are a country that continues to support Palestinians from a humanitarian perspective. I remain a strong advocate for UNRWA, as others try to undermine its credibility as an organisation. So far this year, we have committed €6 million to UNRWA and we may commit more. I think it was €9 million last year. I see the extraordinary benefits of UNRWA through education, healthcare, income distribution and so on that UNRWA continues to provide.

I accept the strength of feeling and also much of what is outlined in this Amnesty report. We will study it. We will study the recommendations and conclusions of that report and I expect we will use it to influence the approach that we take towards trying to protect and encourage a peace process that can deliver a two-state solution, which is absolutely the Government's priority in this debate.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 9.47 p.m. go dtí 9 a.m., Dé Déardaoin, an 3 Márta 2022. The Dáil adjourned at at 9.47 p.m. until 9 a.m. on Thursday, 3 March 2022.