Seanad debates

Thursday, 10 May 2012

11:00 am

Photo of Terry LeydenTerry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Deputy Leader of the House to invite the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to the House as soon as possible to discuss the internment without trial of 4,700 political prisoners in Palestine by the Israeli Government. It is called administrative detention. There are currently 1,600 political prisoners on hunger strike and two of them have gone over 70 days. This is a dangerous situation. These prisoners are basically being interned without trial. It is similar to Northern Ireland and these places are like concentration camps. Thanks to the Internet, somebody is able to recognise their plight in this House. Their demands are quite minimal in respect of visiting rights, education rights and so on. They are detained in nine centres throughout Israel. This is not adding to the peace process in the region which is making no progress owing to the refusal of the Israeli Government to enter into meaningful negotiations and the growth of illegal settlements on Palestinian land. I call on the Deputy Leader to arrange an early debate on this issue to appeal to the Government of Israel to concede minimal rights to these political prisoners who are being detained without trial, as was the case in Northern Ireland and we know what happened there. Unless there is a settlement, this situation will create further problems and even lead to deaths in the region.

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