Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for welcoming those visitors. At the outset, I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, to the House. I acknowledge that he is bringing the same energy and competencies to this Ministry that he did to the area of finance. Before I get into the issue, I fully endorse the latter part of the Minister of State's presentation, which stated that it is his responsibility to increase the aid and keep the aid going. As he said, that postgraduate programme is very important. I salute all of that, which is important in the context of dealing with the situation. We are grateful to the Minister of State for that as a starting point.

The opening months of 2023 have seen a deterioration in human rights and overall well-being in the occupied territories of the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem and Gaza. Recent incursions into Ramallah on 8 June and Jenin on 18 June have led, in the case of Jenin, to 13 civilian casualties. Increased settler violence, as the Minister of State alluded to, is a feature alongside that. There have been arbitrary arrests, a huge number of injuries, demolition of properties etc. It has been a catastrophic incursion. It is illegal and it is wrong. It is a totally disproportionate response to any particular threat to Israel. It is completely disproportionate and is illegal in international law.

The number of Palestinian fatalities in the first quarter of 2023 is approximately three times higher than in the same period in 2022. The number of injuries is six times higher. In May, the death of Khader Adnan in Israeli detention, following 86 days on hunger strike, prompted an escalation in violence. Part of that, as has been alluded to by my good friend, Senator Davitt, involves Hamas violence. Of course, we condemn any acts of violence on Israel. That is not what we are about but that does not for a moment justify the incursions or the repressive approach. To be truthful, the approach taken by Israel to the occupied territories is one of a nervous country. Because of the whole illegality of the settlements and the daft set-up there, they are afraid, for the moment, to allow normal, civilised living there. My colleague, Deputy Colm Burke from Cork, made a very good video on this when he was a Member of the European Parliament. It is worth watching.

The Israeli Government has expedited the construction of illegal settlements. On Sunday, 18 June, it announced a further 4,560 housing units in the West Bank. The strategic fragmenting of the occupied territory is putting at risk any chance of a two-state solution. There is the curtailing of freedom of movement, there are road blocks, diversions and identity cards. Forty UN security resolutions on Jerusalem have been passed to no avail. Between 1993 and 1995, the Oslo Accords involved establishing areas A, B and C. However, recently in Jenin, there were arbitrary mass arrests. It all began in 1948 with the Nakba, the catastrophe, when 750,000 Palestinians had to flee. The recent Amnesty International report referred to Israel's behaviour as "apartheid". A recent UN report by the special rapporteur Francesca Albanese again condemned the human rights situation and the colonisation etc. whereby three generations of Palestinian people are in occupied territories.

In the short time available to me, I note that from an Irish perspective, the ideal has been the two-state solution. That seems to have been made particularly more difficult now by the fragmentation and the nature of the settlements. It remains the Irish policy but another option is to create a proper unitary state based on democratic principles, mutual respect and proper rights for each people. These do not exist for all the Palestinian people who are still living in Israel. A proper state, however, that involves a mutuality of respect, rights and construction is another option. Ireland is vigilant on this matter. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs is being so, just as the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, had done and the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, is now. However, we now need to heat that up. Tragically, it is getting worse, so we need to keep up the pressure in Europe and internationally to get a solution. Unfortunately, we cannot go further with it now but we will on future occasions.