Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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634. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views and those of the EU to the demolition of Palestinian homes in the so called Area C of the West Bank territories; his further views on whether these demolitions are violations of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19904/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Ireland and our EU partners have consistently condemned the building of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the evictions, demolitions and land seizures from Palestinians which are an integral part of that project.

In my view these actions are illegal under the Geneva Convention, both because the population under occupation should be protected from such actions, and because the purpose of the action is to drive the occupied population off the land and facilitate their replacement by Israeli settlers, to alter the demographic composition of the occupied territory.

This view has informed Ireland’s consistent policy on the issue for many years, and is one of the reasons why we accord a high priority to efforts to end the conflict, and why we consider that a comprehensive peace based on two sovereign states, and the ending of the occupation, is essential to the future of both Palestinians and Israelis.