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Human Rights Issues

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 March 2013

Thursday, 28 March 2013

Questions (55, 56)

John Halligan

Question:

55. Deputy John Halligan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the limits being imposed on the fishermen of Gaza; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15571/13]

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Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

56. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Israelis are only allowing fishermen from Gaza to fish three miles from the coast; if he will consider making a statement of protest; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15569/13]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 55 and 56 together.

I have consistently stressed, since I took office, the need for an end to the wide range of restrictions imposed on Gaza by Israel. These restrictions have been imposed in response to actions by militant groups in Gaza but their effect is impacting very negatively on the whole population. One of them has been the confining of fishing boats from Gaza to a zone only three miles from the coast. This has led to the complete depletion of fish stocks in that narrow zone and thus the effective loss of one of the few natural resources available to people in Gaza.

I therefore welcomed the extension by Israel of this limit to six miles, following the renewed ceasefire in Gaza in November, and I hoped for further relaxations in this regard.

It is very disappointing, therefore, that in recent days Israel, in response to missiles fired from Gaza at Israeli population centres last week, both closed the border to transfers of goods and restricted the fishing limit once again to three miles. It is to be hoped that these are temporary responses to a specific event and that they will be ended quickly. I deplore, however, this apparent return to a policy of penalising the population as a whole for the actions of militants, a policy which I consider both unjust and counterproductive. The militant groups in Gaza who fire these missiles have already demonstrated that they do not care very much about the impact of their actions on the population around them.

Equally, I firmly condemn the action of firing missiles at Israeli towns with the express intention of killing civilians and spreading terror. It is difficult not to conclude that, by doing so during the visit of President Obama to Israel, and as he spoke to revive Israel’s engagement in peace efforts, those responsible quite intentionally hoped to provoke a response against the people of Gaza and a setback to peace efforts.

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