Dublin: The Irish parliament has passed a parliamentary motion condemning the “de facto annexation” of Palestinian land by Israeli authorities.
The motion, tabled by the opposition Sinn Fein party, passed after receiving cross-party support.
It is the first European Union country to use the phrase in relation to Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that the motion “is a clear signal of the depth of feeling across Ireland”.
“The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. … It is de facto annexation,” Coveney, of the centre-right Fine Gael party, told parliament.
“This is not something that I, or in my view this house, says lightly. We are the first EU state to do so. But it reflects the huge concern we have about the intent of the actions and of course, their impact,” he said.
Most countries view settlements Israel has built in territory captured in the 1967 war as illegal and as an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.
Coveney, who has represented Ireland on the United Nations Security Council in debates on Israel in recent weeks, had insisted on adding a condemnation of recent rocket attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas before he agreed to government support for the motion.
After the vote, the Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou MacDonald said on Twitter that the motion “must mark new assertive, consistent confrontation of Israeli crimes against Palestine”
An amendment to the motion that sought to impose sanctions on Israel and expel the Israeli ambassador failed to pass.
The motion came days after a ceasefire ended 11 days of the worst fighting between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in years.
The violence sparked large pro-Palestinian protests in Dublin.
At least 254 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while about 2,000 were injured. At least 12 people were killed in Israel.
“Ireland has become the first EU state to recognise Israel’s de facto annexation of Palestine in contravention of international law,” tweeted Ronan Burtenshaw, editor of the UK’s socialist Tribune Magazine. “A landmark on the road to isolating an apartheid state as we did in the 1980s. Next stop: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.” AFP
