Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 11: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether, prior to the start of negotiations about a two-state solution, Israel is obliged under the roadmap to freeze all settlement activity including natural growth of settlements and dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001; and that, by failing to do so, Israel in breach of this agreement [17225/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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As I have repeatedly stated in this House, I regard the continued expansion of settlements as the major obstacle to peace. It is an attempt to create demographic facts on the ground that will dictate the contours of any future Palestinian State. Settlement outposts are illegal under international law, and also under Israeli law. There can be no doubt that settlement outposts erected since March 2001 must be dismantled, if there is to be a viable future Palestinian State.

The parties agreed to enter talks on the basis of the Quartet statement of 23 September 2011 which set out a timetable of not later than the end of 2012 to reach an agreement. A settlement freeze was not a pre-condition for the resumption of talks. The parties met for a number of rounds of direct negotiations in Jordan in January, which were the first direct talks since September 2010. While direct talks were a positive step, the talks failed to make any real progress and have been effectively halted since late January, largely due to Israel's failure to make comprehensive proposals on the issues of security and borders in line with the Quartet timetable.

As I made clear in my discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Liberman during my visit to the region in January, the long-term interests of both Israelis and Palestinians are best served by having stable and secure neighbours, which can only be achieved by a comprehensive peace deal. Both sides recognise that there is no alternative to dialogue. The challenge, as ever, for all concerned with promoting peace in the Middle East is how to fashion the appropriate environment and climate of confidence to allow serious peace negotiations to get underway.

What is now most urgently required are positive confidence-building measures, particularly on the part of Israel, to instil the necessary confidence that real progress could now be achieved, were substantive peace talks to resume. It is the prerogative of President Abbas to determine the conditions under which he would be prepared to resume direct peace talks. I believe a re-instatement of a settlement construction freeze would be a major confidence building measure but there are other forms of confidence building measures that would also demonstrate Israel's commitment to genuinely engage in substantive and meaningful peace talks.