Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 October 2018
14. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the immediate threat to the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar (details supplied); the steps he is taking to ensure that the destruction will not take place; and his plans to hold Israel to account if it carries the destruction out. [40111/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am extremely worried about the imminent threat to the Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar, which we have discussed here on many occasions. The notice to residents to demolish their own structures by 1 October or face enforced demolition clearly indicates that Israel is intent on carrying out this reprehensible action.
These villagers have already been expelled once from their original homes in Israel, and they should have been protected by the occupation authorities, not subjected to further injustice. They have not consented to moving, and it is virtually impossible for them to obtain planning permission from Israeli authorities for housing or other structures in their village.
The forced removal of the Bedouin community to another site is illegal under international law, which clearly prohibits the destruction of private property and the forcible transfer of the population of an occupied territory.
The clearing of Palestinians from this particularly sensitive location in the West Bank is critically damaging to the viability of a future Palestinian state, and thus to the prospects for a peace agreement.
I have made two public statements, in May and July this year, expressing my concerns about Khan al Ahmar, and calling on the Israeli authorities to halt these demolitions and the removal of Palestinian communities. I reiterated these concerns in my speech to the UN General Assembly last week. I have also made Ireland’s views on settlements known directly to the Prime Minister of Israel.
Irish representatives in Ramallah have visited Khan al Ahmar on several occasions, along with EU colleagues, as a show of support for the villagers. Ireland has also pressed strongly for EU action, and the EU has called on Israel to reverse this policy both in private and in public statements, including last month by the EU High Representative on behalf of the EU.
