Ireland and other countries will soon recognise the state of Palestine, according to Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin – but they stopped short of confirming a date for the acknowledgment.
The Irish state, and countries including Spain, have indicated that they will recognise Palestine as part of efforts to bring peace to the Middle East against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza.
RTÉ has reported that May 21st is a possible date for this to happen, but Mr Harris declined to confirm this at a press conference in Dublin.
Mr Harris said he spoke to Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez at the weekend, and he is due to speak to other European leaders.
He said: “There is never a wrong time to do the right thing and the right thing to do right now is to recognise the state of Palestine.
“Why do we do that? We do that because we must keep the hope and the destination of a two-state solution firmly to the forefront.
“You cannot say you believe in a two-state solution and not recognise that there are two states.”
Mr Harris said Ireland recognises the state of Israel and its right to security and peace and “Ireland wishes to recognise the state of Palestine and wishes to see those two states live side-by-side.”
He said there is an understanding with Mr Sanchez that a specific date will not be made public for the recognition, as there are “still conversations ongoing with other leaders of other countries”.
In the Dáil, Mr Martin also declined to confirm the May 21st date but said recognition of Palestine would be happening “in a relatively short time frame”.
Mr Martin said that Ireland is working with “like-minded countries” on the issue, that Ireland and Spain have a very clear direction of travel, and he added. “I’ve said consistently that getting as many states on board is important for the Palestinians, in terms of impact.”
Mr Martin also said that “on Friday there is an important vote of the UN General Assembly which Ireland will be supporting seeking the admission of Palestine to the UN”.
He said: “We believe there could be very significant vote of UN in favour of recognition.”
The Tánaiste said that, in the context of the Arab peace initiative, “this is an important moment in terms of sending a signal to the Palestinian Authority and population that we recognise the Palestinian state, that we recognise their right to self determination”.
Sinn Féin TD Réada Cronin said “our timeline should not be affected by whether other countries are going to come on board now. We should go ahead with the date that has been mentioned, May 21st.”
Later, the Tánaiste said the “most immediate priority is Friday when the UN General Assembly will consider the question of admitting Palestine to the United Nations”, a move which Ireland is supporting and co-sponsoring “with a view to ensuring as large a number of people as possible support Palestinian membership”.
He told Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan it would give further impetus and international urgency to the situation in Gaza.
Mr O’Callaghan had asked Mr Martin to call for an emergency meeting of the European Council ahead of its next scheduled session at the end of June to look for sanctions against Israel “because the situation is so appalling.
“One of the images I saw yesterday was a small child whose parents had been lost looking after a toddler and a baby” and “people are being massacred in Gaza”, he said.
The Tánaiste said he was in no doubt that “war crimes have been committed” and “what is happening is a shocking humanitarian catastrophe”. He said the call by Ireland and Spain for a review of the EU-Israel association agreement was discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council and would be discussed again.
He warned however that “if there are to be sanctions at EU level or if the essential element clauses of the agreement which involve human rights are invoked, in all likelihood it would need unanimity at council level.
“We are under no illusions given the composition of the European Union and the different perspectives of different EU member states on this question, that this is a challenge for Europe,” Mr Martin said. “Nonetheless we were correct in taking the first step and we will continue to pursue it.”
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