Gino Kenny
Question:2. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will comment on Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3296/24]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Question No. 1 taken with Written Answers.
Middle East
My question concerns the ongoing situation in the West Bank. As we have witnessed, it is not just since October 2023 that there has been an upscaling of oppression in the West Bank so I would like to hear the Tánaiste's comments on what is happening.
I am extremely concerned by the horrific violence that we have witnessed in the West Bank, which has drastically increased since 7 October 2023. The UN has reported that approximately 358 Palestinian people have been killed in the West Bank since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, including eight people killed in attacks by violent settlers. This marks the highest number of Palestinians killed in one year since the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs began keeping record in 2005 in the West Bank. This is unacceptable. The sharp rise in settler violence, the displacement of Palestinian communities and the maltreatment of Palestinian prisoners is worrying and dangerous and needs to be condemned. The protection of civilians must be our priority.
I have consistently voiced criticism of actions by Israeli settlers and security forces in the West Bank, which both infringe on the rights of Palestinians and undermine the Palestinian Authority. Ireland has been vocal in condemning these violations and the Government will continue to push for a halt to these actions while actively supporting Palestinians living under threat. Ireland has repeatedly called on Israel to dismantle settlements, hold violent settlers accountable and end the practice of administrative detention in the West Bank. This was a focus of my engagement with Israeli counterparts during my visits in September and November last year. This also featured in my discussions with the Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers at the EU Foreign Affairs Council earlier this week.
I have also raised my concern about the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank at EU level. Currently, discussions are taking place in the EU to agree sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank, who are attacking and displacing Palestinian communities. The US has already taken such action. There have been good discussions at official level on proposals to sanction a number of individuals under the EU's global human rights sanction regime on the basis of strong evidence.
Ireland wants to see these discussions finalised and sanctions adopted as rapidly as possible. At the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, I was very clear in calling for these sanctions on violent settlers to be imposed at EU level as quickly as possible.
That is welcome. There seems to be intensification of the oppression in the West Bank. Of the 358 people who have been murdered by Israelis, 100 were children. What have they done to the Israeli state? Some of the footage is unbelievable - children on streets just being shot dead. It is arbitrary. It is not just a policy of arbitrary detention, arbitrary killing and arbitrary destruction; it is about the arbitrary reoccupation of the West Bank. This is ongoing. Since October 2023, some 5,000 people have been imprisoned by the Israelis in the West Bank. People who were just going about their business were detained. A man named Anas Abu Srour, who is executive director of the Aida Youth Center in Bethlehem, visited Dublin last summer with a number of children from the centre. He was arbitrarily detained for six months as he was going about his business. I raised his detention in a parliamentary question. Hopefully, the Tánaiste can bring his case to the attention of the Israeli ambassador.
I certainly can. As I said in my reply, what is happening in the West Bank is unacceptable. I was there in September. The Palestinian Authority has made it very clear that it is pursuing a non-violent path towards a Palestinian state yet Israel continues to undermine the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli Government strategy is impossible to comprehend. There is no justification for administrative detention, the level of arrests of children and young people, the wanton killing of young people and the support of elements of the IDF for violent settlers in the displacement of many Palestinian communities and the threatening and intimidation that happens in the approach taken by violent settlers to quite a number of Palestinian communities. When I was there in September, I met a young child from a Palestinian school. The child outlined to me how the school was attacked by settlers while the children were in the school and how many local small communities were told to get out of the area because of the pursuit of a fundamentalist religious perspective, which is reprehensible.
I agree. Settler violence against Palestinians has intensified. This is a policy of the Israeli government to drive Palestinians from land and to use intimidation and violence against Palestinians. This is ongoing. However, there must be accountability. One of the schools mentioned by the Tánaiste, in a village called Khirbet Zanuta, was funded by Irish Aid and was completely destroyed. There must be accountability not only for settler violence but also for violence by the Israeli state. There must be sanctions. I ask the Tánaiste to consider the Control of Economic Activities (Occupied Territories) Bill. This is a very moderate Bill and I ask the Government to look again at it. There must be some sort of economic sanctions against settler violence and the Israeli state regarding the ongoing violence against Palestinians.
Whatever the merits of the Control of Economic Activities (Occupied Territories) Bill, it will not affect the situation on the ground. There is no point in-----
Those are important.
We have to work more immediately in terms of pressure on Israel and pressurise it in more immediate ways internationally to get it to stop doing what it is doing. That is where our focus is. There has to be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We are part of the West Bank Protection Consortium, which has sought compensation close to €1.3 million in respect of confiscated or demolished assets since 2015. This consortium is made up of a number of donor countries that contribute to Palestine and the West Bank and are seeking compensation from the Israeli Government in respect of buildings it has destroyed such as schools. We fund the consortium.
Is there compensation that the Israelis-----
They are not responding to these issues.
Question No. 3 taken with Written Answers.
Middle East
Cathal Berry
Question:4. Deputy Cathal Berry asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if a risk assessment has been carried out on the impact to Irish troops and diplomats in the Middle East should Ireland formally support South Africa's Gaza case before the International Court of Justice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3483/24]
Has a formal risk assessment been carried out on the likely impact to our diplomats and peacekeeping troops in the Middle East if Ireland chooses and opts to join South Africa in its case in the ICJ on the Gaza and Palestinian question?
In the immediate aftermath of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel my Department established a cross-departmental task force to assess the impact of the attack on Irish citizens, troops and diplomatic staff in the region. The task force, which continues to meet, is comprised of senior officials from across the Department including ambassadors posted in the Middle East. In co-operation with the Department of Defence, hostile environment awareness training was carried out online for all staff in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The security unit from the Department visited the embassy in Tel Aviv and the representative office in Ramallah in the occupied Palestinian territories from 22 October to 24 October. This visit facilitated the delivery of essential materials, consultation with all staff members, a risk assessment and preparation of evacuation plans. I am in ongoing contact with the Chief of Staff, and the Department of Defence is kept appraised of all developments in those areas in which Defence Forces personnel are deployed. Military management has stated that all Defence Forces personnel are maintaining a high level of vigilance and continue to monitor the developing situation in their respective mission areas.
My Department will analyse carefully the decision of the International Court of Justice, following the recent hearing, regarding any provisional measures. We will continue to consult closely with our international partners. Following this analysis and consultations, the Government will consider whether to seek permission to intervene.
The debate we had here has been interesting. The Irish Government has been clear, just as in other cases, that we will consider this case properly and rigorously and in the right way. The spin that is put on things is amazing, even this morning listening to what I would consider a rather distorted presentation of what transpired. The provisional measures should be announced by the court tomorrow. That is our latest information. I will just explain that it is not an order. It is responding to a request for provisional measures by South Africa. That is where we now are in the process of that case. It is not correct to say that Ireland or anybody else has decided not to join. That is not correct. I am not saying Deputy Berry is saying that. I am just giving that bit of information.
I understand and I thank the Tánaiste for the update. I was not aware that tomorrow was likely-----
That is my understanding.
I agree with the sentiments expressed. The concept I am trying to introduce is that there are consequences to our actions. I am not sure that has been factored into the debate over the past number of weeks. We should always be mindful of the second and third order effects. We do not want to compromise our other vital operations in the Middle East. I know South Africa has no troops in the Middle East. It has withdrawn its embassy. It is not dependent on the Israeli state for host nation support. The last thing we want to do is take measures that would adversely impact on our people out there. There are times when we should accept the consequences of our actions and additional risk, but that should be for material and positive effect on the ground. We should not be accepting additional risk unnecessarily for political expediency or for optics. I would be grateful for the Tánaiste's thoughts.
I absolutely agree with the Deputy, in the sense that Ireland is heavily engaged on the ground, both through our troops in Lebanon and our representative office in Ramallah. We have an embassy in Tel Aviv. We have embassies in Egypt and Jordan. We have people on the ground who engage. There are two ways to approach this. You can go off and be isolationist and attack everybody. That is fine. It is legitimate to do that but not engage. Successive Irish governments have always historically chosen to engage, to try to change minds and opinions. It is interesting that the dial is turning in the European Union on this space from where we were in the beginning. We were one of the first countries to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. That is now the majority opinion of European Union member states. It is a small minority which does not want an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. There are positives, but it is not as politically advantageous in the short term. I sense that the debate in Ireland is sometimes about trying to debate who is better than the other person. Looking in externally there is no question internationally of how people perceive Ireland in terms of the Middle East. Ireland is perceived to be pro-Palestinian in the sense that we want a Palestinian state, and also in how we really work hard for the adherence to international humanitarian law.
I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I also agree. If Ireland's response is part of a wider grouping like the EU or the international community I anticipate there would be no adverse effects. However, if we choose to go unilaterally we must expect consequences. In a similar vein there is also the question of sanctions if Ireland were to unilaterally sanction Israel. Has any assessment been done on what the response of the current Israeli Government would be? I use "current Israeli Government" carefully. Would it likely slap sanctions on Ireland as a result? Would other countries take a dim view and do something similar, and would there be an adverse impact to Ireland from international corporations? I am not saying we should or should not. I am just weighting up the options and letting people know there are other factors at play that they may not yet have considered.
For many years, the issue of sanctions has been at EU level because of the collective weight of the EU in any given situation. We obviously weigh up the impact of sanctions to make sure they can be effective in changing policy, or in articulating our opposition to bad acts such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine. What is positive is that now under active discussion is the idea of sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. I would not have thought that possible six months ago. Ireland has strongly pushed for that at EU level, and will continue to do so. I am hopeful that will materialise at the EU Council meeting. I think that is an effective approach. I have concerns about Lebanon and the need to avoid regional escalation. As part of our efforts in the past two weeks I went to Berlin to meet with the German foreign minister. We met with the Arab states on Monday, and with the Israeli foreign minister. I made it very clear there has to be avoidance of regional escalation, but there are no guarantees with the Israeli position on Lebanon, which I find worrying and concerning.
Question No. 5 taken with Written Answers.