Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus gabhaim buíochas leis as an am a thabhairt dom ar an ábhar seo.

I raise the issue of demolitions in the West Bank, which have been ongoing for years, by Israeli authorities of Palestinian facilities such as homes and businesses. These matters have continued unabated. It is estimated that in 2019, some 624 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished. That is the number of structures but, of course, the number of people displaced by that is very significant. It is probably between 700 and 1,000 people, families and children who were displaced. It has continued this year during which, it is estimated, there have been 554 demolitions. On 31 August, 107 homes and 46 retail units were demolished in east Jerusalem, while at the end of last month, four homes in the West Bank were demolished, so this is continuing.

As to why this happens, there are a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is just a feature of occupation and, undoubtedly, this kind of intervention has been a feature of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Sometimes it is punitive and involves military installations or military activity, but more often than not, it involves the failure of a Palestinian business, family or community to get a permit for the building. That is kind of a nonsense because, as I understand it, in the period 2016 to 2018, there were 1,485 applications for such permits, 21 of which were granted, and that refers only to Area C in the West Bank, which is controlled by the Palestinian authorities alone. As has been acknowledged, it should be for the Palestinian authorities only to grant those permits.

There is no doubt this activity by the Israeli authorities is illegal under international law and the Geneva Convention. It is recognised as such not just by Palestinian organisations and non-governmental human rights organisations but by transnational organisations such as the European Union and by the Government, yet it continues unabated. In the same time that those 21 permits were granted, between 2016 and 2018, 6,000 Israeli settlement houses were built in the same area, Area C. That is what we are dealing with.

The reason I have raised this matter with the Minister of State is that many of these structures are built with the aid of the Irish taxpayer and the European taxpayer. The European Union funds it, as does Irish Aid. It is estimated that since May 2016, according to a statement by Federica Mogherini, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, €329,000 worth of European taxpayers' money has been demolished by Israeli authorities, while another €2.4 million of property is subject to demolition. This is a major problem. Irish Aid gave €15 million to Palestine in 2008 and we contributed €9 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency. As a group of taxpayers, therefore, we are contributing to this. We are doing the right thing, yet a national organisation is doing the wrong thing. It is doing something illegal and what everyone recognises is against international law and its obligations.I would like the Minister of State to tell the House what the Government is doing about it. What steps have we taken, diplomatically or otherwise, to ensure that Israel understands our chagrin at this kind of behaviour and our dissatisfaction with its behaviour? What are we doing to stop it? What are we doing to send a message to Israel that we will not tolerate this waste of our taxpayers' money and of European taxpayers' money and, most of all, this gross violation of basic humanitarian behaviour?