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DUBLIN: The Irish parliament has passed a motion condemning the “de facto annexation” of Palestinian land by Israeli authorities.
The motion, tabled by the opposition Sinn Fein party, passed was on Wednesday after receiving cross-party support. This makes it the first European Union country to use the phrase “de facto annexation” in relation to Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
After the vote, Sinn Fein’s leader Mary Lou MacDonald said on Twitter that the motion “must mark new assertive, consistent confrontation of Israeli crimes against Palestine”.
Palestinian ambassador to Ireland Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid said the motion was “great support” for Palestinians. “This motion is giving great support to the issue of the de facto annexation that is happening in Palestine,” she said. “It’s happening. Ireland is the first EU country to take such a position.”
John Brady, Sinn Fein’s spokesperson for foreign affairs, hailed the motion as “historic” and said he hoped other countries would follow Ireland’s leader.
“This is the starting point,” Brady said in a video posted on Twitter, adding that the focus should shift to holding Israel accountable for its “illegal actions under international law”.
“There now needs to be consequences … on Israel to ensure that they cannot continue to act with perceived impunity for the human rights abuses on the Palestinian people.”
An amendment to the motion that sought to impose sanctions on Israel and expel the Israeli ambassador failed to pass.
Illegal land grabs, annexation of Palestinian land & homes has been called out by Dail (Parliament) in Dublin.The motion tabled by @sinnfeinireland & supported by all must mark new assertive, consistent confrontation of Israeli crimes against Palestine 🇵🇸 🇮🇪 #PalestineBleeding pic.twitter.com/D40xLKGM2m
— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) May 26, 2021
‘De facto annexation’
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 and international law 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 represented Ireland on the UN 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.
Sinn Fein refused to support the government amendment condemning Hamas attacks. The motion came days after a ceasefire ended 11 days of the worst fighting between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in years.
