Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 October 2012
70. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he expects to be in a position to mobilise the wider global community towards bringing about ongoing peace talks in the Middle East with particular reference to the setting up of a forum in which grievances or issues arising can be aired; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45233/12]
View answerI refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 46 on today’s Order paper, which was as follows: “The EU has a clear and long-standing policy that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or Israeli-Arab conflict must be a two-state solution, involving a sovereign state of Palestine co-existing peacefully with Israel. Ireland has made a strong contribution from the outset to the development of this policy. It has now become broadly accepted by almost all parties as the goal which must be achieved if this conflict is to be settled. Regrettably, progress towards this goal has been much less satisfactory.
The EU acts supportively in a number of ways. First and foremost, we seek to encourage and press both parties into engaging in serious direct negotiations, because we recognise that this is the only way to reach a comprehensive agreement and to end the occupation. Frankly, we have been very disappointed by the inability to get talks restarted. The reasons are complex but primarily there has been little real engagement by the Israeli Government in the process.
The EU is also active in relation to specific issues on the ground which we believe are having a negative effect and threaten to make a peace agreement based on a two-state solution impossible to achieve. The Foreign Affairs Council in May issued strong Conclusions, to which Ireland actively contributed, which highlighted these issues, many of which revolve round Israeli settlement building, and which called for urgent changes in policy. I am pressing for a follow-up Council discussion within the next couple of months.
Finally, on the Palestinian side the EU is the major provider of humanitarian support for refugees and technical support and capacity-building for the Palestinian administration. Ireland plays an active role in all of these strands of engagement, including through support provided by Irish Aid.”
Further to that reply, I do not think there is any lack of a forum for the parties to express their grievances, rather the opposite. I know the idea of a secretariat has been suggested occasionally in the Oireachtas, but I have to say that in my meetings with the parties both in the region and elsewhere, no-one has ever suggested this to me. There are already permanent representatives and staffs operating in the field on behalf of the EU, the US, the UN and the Quartet. The problem is not one of a lack of structures, but a lack of political will to use them.
