Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions to the debate. In the short period available to us at least ten Senators spoke, which demonstrates the interest there is in this matter. I myself will deal with a few of the remarks here now but there will be a debate in the Dáil tomorrow for about three hours on this same issue. The Tánaiste will be present at that debate, so we will ensure that the record of what the various Senators have said will be brought to his attention overnight and those issues can be covered in tomorrow's statements in the Dáil as well. The Tánaiste is not here personally but he will deal with this issue tomorrow here in the Houses of the Oireachtas. There is a second opportunity for a response to some of the issues that have been mentioned.

I acknowledge people will say we are not strong enough but we have been very forthright in urging Israel to comply with its obligations under international law. That is it in a nutshell. We ask people to obey the law. We are not the policemen who go out and enforce the law. What can a democratic state do, only insist that international laws that are passed and agreed are fully respected, even though we are not the implementers personally?

Some people said that this is not about words but about actions. Then the Government was pilloried for not using a particular word, namely, "apartheid" that somebody felt we should use when we speak about these issues. On the one hand, Members say it is not about words but about action but, on the other, it is all about the use of a particular word. I found that a little confusing, in that people were concentrating on kind of contradictory points. The basic point Members are making, however, is that they are looking for a stronger voice and stronger action from Ireland on these issues, and I accept the bona fides of everything that has been said.

The debate here has been unusual in that we are all effectively on the one side, only it is a question of how strong the action a particular government can take. There was no fundamental disagreement among any of the contributors as regards our views on this area. It is good that we have a clear view on this right across Seanad Éireann, as expressed in the debate today. Everybody was clear about the incursions by the Israel Defense Forces in Jenin, which had a serious impact. I was very clear and critical in my opening statement in condemning attacks in the other direction which impacted Israeli citizens. All violence is wrong, so we cannot be selective. I think that if people were to listen to what I said in my opening remarks, they would say there was an equal amount of criticism. While you might be more supportive of one point of view, you cannot support illegal actions and violence by those people, even though you might support their general position. We do not support their level of violence.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a priority foreign policy for Ireland, including within the European Union. I met in April of this year the Palestinian deputy foreign minister, Amal Jadou, during her visit to Dublin and to Dáil Éireann. She is a very effective person. By the way - and I do not want anyone to draw a particular significance to this - I have met umpteen delegations from foreign countries, NGOs and so on since I came into my role at the beginning of the year. That was the first delegation where I was sitting on one side and there were about six women across from me. Every member of the delegation was female. They were very educated, very clear on what they wanted and very forthright in what they were saying. I almost felt I was the person in the minority, which was no harm for once because it is regularly the opposite case. In Palestine the level of education people have in some of their universities is exceptionally high, and the case they can make stands up anywhere when they get the opportunity to make it.

The Tánaiste has engaged on this issue at the EU Foreign Affairs Council and it is a regular subject when he engages with his EU counterparts. The EU foreign ministers held informal discussions with Prime Minister Shtayyeh and Foreign Minister al-Maliki in January. The EU is committed to enhancing its engagement with the Palestinian Authority through high-level political dialogue. That will happen during the course of this year.

Last week, the EU special representative for the Middle East peace process was here in Dublin and held meetings with the Tánaiste, as well as with members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. It is important that such delegations meet the cross-party committees and not only the Government, and that engagement was very important as well. During our tenure on the UN Security Council, we were very outspoken about the negative trajectory on the ground and we used the platform for a call to adherence to international law. That is essentially it. There is international law to which we all sign up. We ask people to abide by it.

Everything that has been said here will be brought to the Tánaiste's attention overnight because there will be another debate in the Houses of the Oireachtas on this topic tomorrow and he will be able to take up the points that have been raised.