Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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607. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if consideration will be given to banning goods produced in Israeli settlements in Palestine, in view of the fact these settlements are illegal under international law and the continued human rights violations that these illegal settlements create. [14115/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has consistently highlighted the issue of settlements in EU and other international discussions. This includes the illegality of the settlement project as a whole, its destructive effect on the chances of reaching a peace agreement, and the multiple injustices and human rights concerns to which it gives rise. These issues have been at the centre of my interventions at the Foreign Affairs Council when the Middle East Peace process is discussed.

I was therefore also supportive of the UN Security Council’s recent call on States, in Resolution 2334, to distinguish in their dealings between the territory of Israel and of the occupied territory. This differentiation is something which I have argued for at EU level and, as reported here to the House on many occasions, there have been a number of important steps taken in that regard in recent years, including in relation to product labelling and EU research funding.

I would be open to considering in principle a proposal that the EU should exclude products from illegal settlements from entering the EU market. However, the inescapable fact is that there is no prospect of such a proposal gaining wider support at present.