Gino Kenny
Ceist:2. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will comment on Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3296/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 25 January 2024
Ceisteanna (2)
Freagraí ó Béal (10 píosaí cainte)
My question concerns the ongoing situation in the West Bank. As we have witnessed, it is not just since October 2023 that there has been an upscaling of oppression in the West Bank so I would like to hear the Tánaiste's comments on what is happening.
I am extremely concerned by the horrific violence that we have witnessed in the West Bank, which has drastically increased since 7 October 2023. The UN has reported that approximately 358 Palestinian people have been killed in the West Bank since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, including eight people killed in attacks by violent settlers. This marks the highest number of Palestinians killed in one year since the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs began keeping record in 2005 in the West Bank. This is unacceptable. The sharp rise in settler violence, the displacement of Palestinian communities and the maltreatment of Palestinian prisoners is worrying and dangerous and needs to be condemned. The protection of civilians must be our priority.
I have consistently voiced criticism of actions by Israeli settlers and security forces in the West Bank, which both infringe on the rights of Palestinians and undermine the Palestinian Authority. Ireland has been vocal in condemning these violations and the Government will continue to push for a halt to these actions while actively supporting Palestinians living under threat. Ireland has repeatedly called on Israel to dismantle settlements, hold violent settlers accountable and end the practice of administrative detention in the West Bank. This was a focus of my engagement with Israeli counterparts during my visits in September and November last year. This also featured in my discussions with the Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers at the EU Foreign Affairs Council earlier this week.
I have also raised my concern about the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank at EU level. Currently, discussions are taking place in the EU to agree sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank, who are attacking and displacing Palestinian communities. The US has already taken such action. There have been good discussions at official level on proposals to sanction a number of individuals under the EU's global human rights sanction regime on the basis of strong evidence.
Ireland wants to see these discussions finalised and sanctions adopted as rapidly as possible. At the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, I was very clear in calling for these sanctions on violent settlers to be imposed at EU level as quickly as possible.
That is welcome. There seems to be intensification of the oppression in the West Bank. Of the 358 people who have been murdered by Israelis, 100 were children. What have they done to the Israeli state? Some of the footage is unbelievable - children on streets just being shot dead. It is arbitrary. It is not just a policy of arbitrary detention, arbitrary killing and arbitrary destruction; it is about the arbitrary reoccupation of the West Bank. This is ongoing. Since October 2023, some 5,000 people have been imprisoned by the Israelis in the West Bank. People who were just going about their business were detained. A man named Anas Abu Srour, who is executive director of the Aida Youth Center in Bethlehem, visited Dublin last summer with a number of children from the centre. He was arbitrarily detained for six months as he was going about his business. I raised his detention in a parliamentary question. Hopefully, the Tánaiste can bring his case to the attention of the Israeli ambassador.
I certainly can. As I said in my reply, what is happening in the West Bank is unacceptable. I was there in September. The Palestinian Authority has made it very clear that it is pursuing a non-violent path towards a Palestinian state yet Israel continues to undermine the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli Government strategy is impossible to comprehend. There is no justification for administrative detention, the level of arrests of children and young people, the wanton killing of young people and the support of elements of the IDF for violent settlers in the displacement of many Palestinian communities and the threatening and intimidation that happens in the approach taken by violent settlers to quite a number of Palestinian communities. When I was there in September, I met a young child from a Palestinian school. The child outlined to me how the school was attacked by settlers while the children were in the school and how many local small communities were told to get out of the area because of the pursuit of a fundamentalist religious perspective, which is reprehensible.
I agree. Settler violence against Palestinians has intensified. This is a policy of the Israeli government to drive Palestinians from land and to use intimidation and violence against Palestinians. This is ongoing. However, there must be accountability. One of the schools mentioned by the Tánaiste, in a village called Khirbet Zanuta, was funded by Irish Aid and was completely destroyed. There must be accountability not only for settler violence but also for violence by the Israeli state. There must be sanctions. I ask the Tánaiste to consider the Control of Economic Activities (Occupied Territories) Bill. This is a very moderate Bill and I ask the Government to look again at it. There must be some sort of economic sanctions against settler violence and the Israeli state regarding the ongoing violence against Palestinians.
Whatever the merits of the Control of Economic Activities (Occupied Territories) Bill, it will not affect the situation on the ground. There is no point in-----
Those are important.
We have to work more immediately in terms of pressure on Israel and pressurise it in more immediate ways internationally to get it to stop doing what it is doing. That is where our focus is. There has to be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We are part of the West Bank Protection Consortium, which has sought compensation close to €1.3 million in respect of confiscated or demolished assets since 2015. This consortium is made up of a number of donor countries that contribute to Palestine and the West Bank and are seeking compensation from the Israeli Government in respect of buildings it has destroyed such as schools. We fund the consortium.
Is there compensation that the Israelis-----
They are not responding to these issues.
Question No. 3 taken with Written Answers.