Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 September 2023
3. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the actions he proposes to take further to his visit to Palestine and Israel; and if such actions will include the recognition of the state of Palestine. [41428/23]
View answerWe followed very closely the Tánaiste's recent visit to the Middle East. He will have read the commentary that arose during that visit. On foot of that visit, what actions does he propose the Government should take?
My visit to Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and Jordan was an important step in Ireland’s long-standing support for international efforts to achieve peace in the region. My insights from engaging with the situation on the ground will shape Ireland’s constructive role in promoting a sustainable political horizon.
During the visit, I highlighted my deep concern with the continued expansion of Israeli settlements, demolitions and evictions in the West Bank to the Israeli Government, including in meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the foreign minister, Eli Cohen. I discussed the importance of intra-Palestinian reconciliation and democratic legitimacy, including elections, with President Abbas of Palestine. I also had meaningful engagement on the conflict in my meetings in Jordan, including with His Majesty the King and the foreign minister, Ayman Safadi.
Since my visit, I have had the opportunity to raise the issue during my meetings at the UN General Assembly, where I was pleased to take part in the launch of the Peace Day initiative by the EU, the League of Arab States and Saudi Arabia. I reaffirmed the importance of reinvigorating a peace process and my concern at the negative trends I witnessed on the ground. I also attended a working dinner with Arab and European ministers, hosted by the International Peace Institute at the UN, to discuss options for progress and a more co-ordinated international engagement in respect of the conflict. I assure the Deputy that I will continue to work with partners in the European Union and internationally to ensure a continuing focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
With regard to recognition, the programme for Government states that the Government will:
Honour our commitment to recognise the State of Palestine as part of a lasting settlement of the conflict, or in advance of that, when we believe doing so will progress efforts to reach a two-state solution or protect the integrity of Palestinian territory.
Recognition is a step Ireland can only take once and doing so must be in the interests of advancing a peace process. The decision to recognise would potentially also have a cost to Ireland in terms of our ability to wield any influence in the process. The timing and context of any such decision would affect whether the resulting loss of influence would be matched by a commensurate benefit for the Palestinian people and a positive impact on the peace process and a two-state solution. My judgment at present is that this would not be the case in respect of unilateral recognition by Ireland alone.
I welcome the Tánaiste taking the time to travel to Israel and Palestine. If I have one critique, it is that I would have liked him to have visited Gaza. I do not know if that was considered in his deliberations. Notwithstanding that, it is important that Ireland shows leadership and an interest and that the Government reflects the interest the Irish people have in seeing a lasting peace settlement in the region.
The Minister spoke about our influence and the fact that recognition of the state of Palestine might impact on that influence. The very fact we cannot recognise the state of Palestine because apparently others in Europe are not doing so raises the question as to exactly how big our influence is. I would contend and I have contended for quite some time that, on this matter, the time for cosy chats anywhere is well gone. We now need nation states to make a stand and I would like Ireland to be among the first in making a very strong and definitive stand with regard to the occupation, annexation and oppression by Israel of the Palestinian people, which is not acceptable to the international community. I therefore put the question again, what actions is the Irish Government going to take to send that message to Palestine, Israel and the world?
What was interesting during the visit was that these were not cosy chats with our Israeli interlocutors, I can assure the Deputy, because the Israeli Government perception of Ireland is that we are one of the most - how do I put it - hostile states with regard to the Israeli position, if they even use that language, and that this State takes a position which is negative. That is how the Israeli state sees us. Across the European Union it would have identified Ireland as a country that takes a view which is contrary to the Israeli position. We stress to the Israeli Government that this is not an anti-Israeli Government position or anti-Israel position but rather that we look at the situation through international law and through the successive resolutions passed at the United Nations which affirm the Palestinian right to a homeland, to a state and to the two-state solution. All of our work in this area is genuine, bona fide and is in respect of the implementation of international law; hence our very strong condemnation of settlements.
What concerned me on the ground in the occupied territories is the growth of the very far-right dimension now to the expansion of settlements with the uprooting of Bedouin communities and attacks on schools. I met with a Bedouin family, and the young child explained to me that a young boy's school was attacked by settlers with arms, with displacement being the objective. There is a turn for the worse in respect of expansion of settlements and the nature of it, where religious fundamentalism is playing an increasing role. This adds an extra, dangerous dimension to all that is transpiring. There is deep concern across the world. I had subsequent meetings at the UN with people who are genuinely interested, where Ireland would be seen as a country which is genuinely committed to this to try to get a resolution and to prod people to a sense of a pathway to a two-state solution. Our focus right now is on the two-state solution. The issue of the recognition of Palestine is an issue that is constantly under review by us and we try to work with other European Union states to get a critical mass behind it.
With the focus being on the two-state solution, and then recognising that the two-state solution is becoming more and more unattainable as a result of the actions of the Israeli Government, to me point to a need for greater urgency. To repeat the point, this has to be followed by substantive actions because Ireland being considered hostile to the Israeli Government's policies is something I would not be one bit ashamed of. As the Minister rightly says, our position is in defence of international law which is being breached every single day by the Israeli Government at the cost of very significant suffering by the Palestinian people.
A number of initiatives have been brought to this House. One is the recognition of the state of Palestine, one is the occupied territories Bill, one is the illegal Israeli settlements divestments Bill, and on every one of those the Government always has a reason not to proceed just yet. There is always a waiting game involved. I will ask for the third time: what specific actions is the Government going to take, unilaterally if needs be, to send that very clear message that the ongoing expansion of settlements and the ongoing apartheid regime of Israel against the Palestinian people is simply not acceptable to us or, I believe, to the majority of humanity?
Again, I say to the Deputy that the Israeli Government is in no doubt about Ireland's position on this. It does not like it and does not waste time in articulating the fact that it does not like our position. This is not just about sending messages and sloganeering. The Israeli Government is well aware of our position. Behind it all, it accepts our genuine interest in a resolution of the conflict and there has to be engagement at all levels. It is important we retain and maintain engagement with the Israeli Government on these issues and that we argue issues through with it and with the Palestinian Authority, with whom we also must have engagement. The position in the Palestinian Authority is one of appreciation of the Irish position to date. This would also be the position in respect of Jordan and others who appreciate the principled stand Ireland has taken.
Within all of that, it is a complex issue and is not going to be resolved on its own by reducing it to a particular set of actions at any given time. We know that by now. Part of what was going on at the UN and the International Day of Peace initiative of the European Union was to try to galvanise countries to try to develop an approach which would engage with the Israeli Government on a track which could rescue the viability of a two-state solution and to get it onto a proper and peaceful pathway. I believe it is worth pursuing that at the moment.
