Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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92. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a cross-party delegation of MEPs, which included two Irish MEPs, were recently refused access to visit Gaza during an official visit to the region, and if he has discussed it with representatives of the Israeli Government or its embassy in Dublin. [48957/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Israel has maintained for some time a policy of not enabling access to Gaza for official visitors, other than for Ministers with directly pertinent responsibilities, notably Foreign Ministers and Development Ministers. The rationale given is that continual visits by official delegations give tacit recognition to and support of the Hamas authorities in Gaza, and ignore the fact that the Palestinian Authority is effectively excluded from the Strip. Indeed this concern has also been expressed from time to time on the Palestinian side. I consider that visits to Gaza are important to show policymakers what are the real conditions there, and to convey to the local population that they have not been forgotten. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Israel does not want the effects of its policies in Gaza to be seen by a wider audience. I was of course aware of the recent refusal to allow a delegation from the European Parliament to enter Gaza, in keeping with this policy. My Department contacted the Israeli authorities, both via their Embassy in Dublin and through our own Embassy in Tel Aviv with the Foreign Ministry in Israel, to seek to have this decision reversed, and subsequently to express our disappointment that this was not granted. I have also been in direct contact myself with the two Irish MEPs concerned.