Israel treats Palestinians ‘in a way that is unacceptable and illegal’, says Coveney

Ireland is “absolutely not anti-Israel” in its approach to the Middle East, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said. Rather it wanted “a good relationship with Israel, the Government is very clear on that. Unlike some in the Irish political system who seem to want to cut all ties with Israel, we don’t.”

While Ireland wanted a relationship with Israel, “we need that conversation to be frank and honest”, he said. “In many ways Israel is a great country but Israel treats Palestinians in a way that is unacceptable and illegal.”

He was speaking at a press conference in Dublin’s Farmleigh House on Sunday alongside Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki. He accompanied Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on a weekend visit to Ireland during which they met President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and Mr Coveney.

At Sunday’s press conference Mr Coveney described Israel as “an occupying power on Palestinian lands”, and said there were international obligations that counter such occupation.

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“It is simply not acceptable and illegal to expand settlements, force demolitions, force evictions and, of course, it is having a corrosive impact on the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. And many young Palestinians are without hope as a result of that because of how long it has gone on and the direction it has taken, particularly in recent years.”

Ireland’s peace process or attempts at peace had been “on similar time lines”.

“Our peacekeepers have served in the Middle East bordering Israel for many many years, in the 1970s both on the Golan Heights and in southern Lebanon. So Irish people have an interest in it and a stake. We’ve lost lives in terms of our Defence Forces, many of them particularly in Unifil in southern Lebanon.

“So we aren’t without sacrifice in relation to instability and violence in the Middle East. For all of those reasons I think Irish people want to take an honest approach here and want to use international law and UN resolutions as the benchmark by which we hold political leaders to account. And that’s why we’re vocal, why I’m vocal, where the Taoiseach is, where the President is and we’ll continue to be. It’s absolutely not anti-Israel,” he said.

Ireland wanted “to contribute to a peace process that’s good for Israel, good for Israelis, but fair and good for Palestinians too with equality of esteem between both sides, which is something we haven’t seen for many years, given the power of one side versus the other in this relationship,” he said.

“We have built a friendship between Palestinian people and Ireland over many years and many governments. I think we trust each other, we want to work with each other for peace,” he said, noting that President Abbas and Mr al-Maliki had stopped off in Ireland on their way to the UN General Assembly in New York.”

There has not been urgency on the part of the international community “to try to change the direction in Israeli-Palestinian relations,” he said, but that Ireland would “continue to work for that. It’s a big part of Irish foreign policy.”

He announced an additional €2 million for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides essential services to 5.7 million registered Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. It brings Ireland’s total contribution to UNRWA in 2022 to €8 million. It was, Mr Coveney said, ”one of the highest per capita contributions” to UNRWA of any country in the world.

Addressing Mr al-Maliki directly, he said “you’re very welcome here” and “I can promise you that Ireland will do everything we can within the multilateral organisations that we operate in and on a bi-lateral basis to try to assist you in the work that you’re doing for the peace and stability of your region.”

For his part, Mr al-Maliki confirmed “yes, we did intentionally stop here in Dublin to say thank you to Ireland, the people and Government, political parties for their support in the search for peace and justice in the Middle East and for the Palestinian people”.

In Palestine at the moment “we are in bad times but we are heading towards worse times and so, if we want to salvage the situation, we should rethink together and with hope. We should rethink with our good friends. That’s why we are here, to try to bring hope to the people of Isreal/Palestine,” he said.

Confirming that Ireland supported full UN membership for Palestine, instead of its current observer status, Mr Coveney said, however, that this was not likely in the immediate future. “Irish people, probably more than any other country outside the Arab world, follow the (Middle East) peace process, or the lack of it in recent years, more closely than any other country,” he said.