Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs
The issue of Palestine is regularly on the agenda of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, which has members from both houses of the Oireachtas, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. The following lists recent sessions of the Committee which have considered the issue and provides links to where the proceedings can be found on the official Oireachtas website
13 April 2010
Middle East Peace Process: Discussion with Former Israeli Ambassador
Former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Dore Gold, appeared before the Committee. He gave four reasons, none of them down to Israel, why there had been no progress in negotiations with Palestinians:
- There was more than a territorial dispute at stake between Israel and Palestinians – the latter, or at least some of them, wanted to destroy Israel, as demonstrated by the rocket firing out of Gaza after Israel withdrew
- Regional states had refused to help build confidence by, for example, allowing over flights by Israeli aircraft. Only Israel had been asked to make confidence building gestures, for example, by freezing settlement building.
- The EU had taken away the Palestinians’ incentive for making deal with Israel, by suggesting that a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders should be recognised internationally.
- Palestinians refuse to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.
Full text here
30 March 2010
Role of EU in Middle East Peace Process and Related Motions: Discussion
Proinsias De Rossa, Labour MEP, and chairman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, addressed the question of whether Israel was in breach of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The Committee is taking evidence on this question with a view to arriving at a conclusion before the summer recess.
Article 2 states:
“Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.”
Here’s an extract from Proinsias De Rossa’s remarks:
“As members will know, the association agreement places obligations on both parties, Europe and Israel, to ensure the human rights of those for whom they are responsible, are respected. The agreement states that human rights ‘constitute an essential element of this agreement’.
“It is beyond reasonable doubt that Israel and the EU are both in breach of their obligations under this agreement. Israel is in breach because of its continued occupation of the West Bank and its illegal annexation of east Jerusalem; its actions against the population of Gaza during its war on that area in December 2008 to January 2009; its blockade of that territory before and since that war; its daily restrictions on the movement of the people of the West Bank with over 600 checkpoints; its collusion in the eviction of families in east Jerusalem; and its detention of Palestinian children and 23 elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who were lifted by the Israeli authorities in retaliation for the taking prisoner of Gilad Shalit, some 40 members were arrested at the time of whom 23 remain in prison.
“Other Israeli breaches of the agreement are: the building of a 700 km security wall which illegally encroaches on Palestinian territory; and the planting of 500,000 Israeli citizens in settlements in the West Bank, including in east Jerusalem. These settlers are supported with subsidies, services and tax concessions. It should be borne in mind the number of settlers in the area has doubled compared with the figures at the signing of the Oslo Accords, 16 or 17 years ago. That agreement called for a reduction in the number of settlers. There are now 200,000 settlers in east Jerusalem and 300,000 in the West Bank.
“There are also concerns about human rights in Israel itself, in particular with regard to the second-class citizenship status of the Israeli-Palestinian minority, which accounts for almost 20% of the population of Israel. More recently there are increasing signs of human rights defenders in Israel coming under pressure for having co-operated with the UN inquiry into the war on Gaza. This has also been adverted to in the European Parliament’s Goldstone resolution.
“Europe, the other party to the agreement, is guilty, in my view, of breaching it by failing to enforce a solemn international agreement and respect the imperative of the European treaties. This is particularly the case when one considers that in recent months it has taken action with regard to Sri Lanka and Guinea. In both those cases it suspended agreements with those countries because it considered that human rights were not being dealt with appropriately.
“The effect of a suspension of the association agreement and a freeze on the development of relations would not prevent Israeli goods coming into EU member states, but these would not benefit from the free trade arrangements that currently apply. Europe currently imports €11 billion from Israel and exports €14 billion worth of goods to it. Ireland’s share of that trade is €300 million and €82 million, respectively. Those imports would include imports by the Irish Defence Forces of military equipment. No doubt a suspension of the agreement would affect those exports, as Israel would be likely to retaliate.”
Full text here.
4 February 2010
Israeli Military Actions: Discussion
The committee took evidence from Eoin Murray from Trócaire and Yehuda Shaul, director of Breaking the Silence, which is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifada.
Full text here
October 2009
A joint delegation from the Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee visited Israel/Palestine from 20 to 24 July 2009. A report of the visit published in October 2009 is here.
16 July 2009
EU Association Agreement with Israel and Related Matters
Amnesty International gave evidence to the Committee following the publication of a report, called Israel/Gaza: Operation ‘Cast Lead’: 22 days of death and destruction.
Full text here
23 June 2009
EU Association Agreement with Israel and Related Matters
Marie Crawley, David Morrison and Philip O’Connor of the IPSC gave evidence to the Committee.
Full text here
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