On behalf of the select committee, I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and his officials for attending today's meeting. Before he leaves, I am sure the Minister would like a brief update on the visit of a delegation from the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs last week to Israel and the Palestinian territories. I was accompanied on the trip by Deputies O'Hanlon, Ardagh, Higgins and Shatter and Senator Daly.
We spent the first two days visiting Jerusalem and the West Bank. Our first meeting was with the Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, who briefed us on the circumstances of the small Christian community in the city. We then had meetings with a number of senior figures in the Palestinian Government, including Ahmed Qurei; Abu Allah who was appointed as head of the Palestinian negotiating team for the peace talks after the Annapolis conference; Riyad al-Maliki, the Palestinian Foreign Minister; and Rafiq Husseini, the chief of staff in the office of President Abbas.
We learned a great deal about how the Palestinians viewed the peace talks from these valuable meetings. We heard about the difficulties they encountered in progressing the talks with the Israeli Government in the face of continuing violence, particularly by Hamas. They believe it is possible to achieve a ceasefire and an agreement, as long as the agreement is comprehensive, mutual and in line with the road map. The members of our delegation were able to offer some suggestions based on the experience of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Our suggestion that a permanent joint secretariat be put in place to ensure contact was maintained between both sides, even in the face of outbreaks of violence, was well received by the Palestinians.
We met members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and representatives of the Palestinian human rights NGOs in Ramallah. I laid a wreath at the grave of President Yasser Arafat on behalf of the delegation. When we visited a girls' school in a refugee camp near Bethlehem, we saw the negative effects of the separation wall on the lives of the people of the area. We visited Bethlehem University which receives funding from Irish Aid. I am glad to say we found the university, which has approximately 2,600 students, in excellent shape. We received detailed briefings from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the living conditions of the Palestinian people on the West Bank and in Gaza. The UN Relief and Works Agency, which is doing excellent work, also briefed the delegation.
We met a number of senior Israeli Government and Opposition figures in the Knesset. Our main meeting was with Tzachi Hanegbi, chairman of the Knesset's defence and foreign affairs committee. We also met Yossi Beilin, the leader of the moderate Meretz party, and his party colleague, Avshalom Vilan. When we met Isaac Herzog, the Israeli Minister for welfare and social services, he was receptive to our suggestion that a permanent joint secretariat involving Israelis and Palestinians, based on the model used in Northern Ireland, be established. Representatives of the Israeli defence forces briefed us on the security situation arising from the construction of the security wall. We had a meeting with a senior legal official in the foreign ministry who set out how Israel saw its legal position with respect to the occupation of the Gaza Strip. We visited the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, where we saw in graphic detail a complete record of the horrors inflicted on the Jewish people in Europe by the Nazis. On behalf of the delegation, I laid a wreath in memory of all those who died in the Holocaust.
When we visited the town of Sderot, less than 1 km from Gaza, we met the mayor of the town. Our visit brought home to us directly the daily terror being experienced by the citizens of Sderot from Qassam rockets. The citizens of the town are mainly refugees who arrive there at various times. While we were being briefed by the mayor in his office, an alarm went off to warn us that a Qassam rocket had been launched on the town. We had eight seconds in which to find shelter in a fortified area of the town. Ten rockets were fired on Sderot on the day in question. While some fell harmlessly in the fields, others hit houses and did serious damage.
Our visit concluded with a meeting with representatives of a number of human rights NGOs in Israel. I emphasise the delegation's appreciation of the efforts made by the Irish ambassador to Israel, Mr. Michael Forbes, and his staff at the embassy; and the Irish representative to the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Conor O'Riordan, and his staff in Ramallah during the planning and smooth running of what turned out to be an intensive and worthwhile visit. A full report is being prepared and will be made available to the Minister in the near future.
