Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am here with Members of the House to address both the current situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and, in particular, the issues raised in the report published on 1 February by Amnesty International. Amnesty International is a respected NGO that carries out important work around the world. The Government values the vital role it and other civil society organisations play. Israeli and Palestinian civil society organisations, as well as international organisations such as Amnesty, make a significant contribution to the development of the Middle East peace process.

The report published by Amnesty is a detailed and comprehensive document, and officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs are reviewing its contents in depth. The allegations in the report echo those we have seen in recent similar reports from other well-known civil society organisations such as Human Rights Watch and B'Tselem. These reports undoubtedly raise difficult questions for the Israeli Administration. The report makes several specific claims regarding the policies of the Israeli Government towards the Palestinian people. In particular, as Members will be aware, the report finds that "Israel has perpetrated the international wrong of apartheid, as a human rights violation and a violation of public international law".

It is clear the report paints a bleak picture of the situation of the Palestinian people, and documents a number of issues regarding the practices and policies of the Israeli Administration that Ireland raises regularly. The substantive issues raised in the report include, for example, illegal settlement activity and settler violence, evictions and the demolition of Palestinian property, as well as other discriminatory practices and policies towards the Palestinian people.

Our position on these matters is and 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. Our approach is rooted in the illegality of Israel's occupation and the right of Palestinians to self-determination. Ireland has been consistently clear-----