Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is ample time. I welcome the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Simon Coveney, to this House again. Once again I add my voice to those of my colleagues in support of Senator Frances Black's Private Members' Bill, which I was honoured to co-sign and which seeks to prohibit the sale of Israeli settlement goods in Ireland. I also take this opportunity to yet again condemn the actions of the Israeli Defence Forces against unnamed protestors and to condemn the dramatic rise in the use of administrative detention, which would be more commonly known as political internment. We have watched in horror as the events of past weeks, months and years have unfolded on our television screens and tablets. We have seen the most desperate and brutal violations of people's right to protest against injustice, occupation and the taking of the very ground from under them. We have seen the most reprehensible form of crackdown imaginable. Placards, flags and stones are met with tear gas, live gunfire and shelling.That Israel is fully committed to a two-state solution is very questionable. It is a delusion. Justice and peace for the Palestinian people have not been delivered. The status quohas failed the Palestinian people. It failed the more than 100 Palestinians who were shot dead in recent months and the more than 10,000 Palestinians who were wounded in protests. It has failed the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees who are registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. This is no new refugee crisis. It has been happening since 1948. For decades people have been stranded in camps that I saw for myself in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. It has gone on for decades, which is why we are seeking a change. How can the Minister continue with a policy that has failed the Palestinian people time and again? Will the Government respond differently to the latest in a decades long series of violations of international norms in human rights? Is the Minister be open to that possibility and will he listen to what we have to say? Through the prism of the European Union, Ireland has significant influence. The European Union is Israel's largest single trading partner and has shown a willingness to use trade to positive effect in other instances. I ask that Ireland lead the European Union, not follow it. How will the Minister and Ireland use their influence to effect change at EU level? It must be a positive change to help to bring justice to the Palestinian people. Will the Minister change his mind and listen to us? Will he support Senator Frances Black's Bill which is a modest proposal but not radical? I disagree with Senator Billy Lawless. I believe the state of Israel is very vulnerable to criticism and that it is very sensitive to public opinion. What we are doing will be noted and looked at. Therefore, Ireland, is in a position to lead. I know that the Minister is a man of conviction. Therefore, I ask him to take seriously what we are asking him to do.