TÁNAISTE AND Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has repeated his call for Israel to end its blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to The Irish Times after visiting Gaza yesterday, on the first day of a three-day trip to the region, Mr Gilmore said the Israeli restrictions were having a huge impact and he would raise the issue in his talks with Israeli leaders.
“The Irish Government is totally opposed to the boycott, but as a minimum Israel should allow in construction materials to allow the Gaza economy to recover, permit a normal import-export regime and ease the restrictions on human traffic, which is a basic human rights issue.”
He accepted that Israel had legitimate concerns over the possibility of large amounts of weapons reaching Gaza if the blockade was eased, but said such concerns can be addressed. “Weapons can be smuggled in anyway via the tunnels and, in this day and age, with modern technology, there are ways to screen goods and people without imposing a blockade on the entire people.”
Mr Gilmore visited two schools and a food distribution centre operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), accompanied by Filippo Grandi, the organisation’s commissioner general. He promised continuing Irish support for humanitarian efforts in Gaza and noted that Dublin pledged €12 million to Unrwa over the three-year period 2010-2012.
He met local aid workers and non-governmental organisation officials, including from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, but he did not meet any Hamas officials.
Today, Mr Gilmore travels to Ramallah where he will meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and foreign minister Riad Malki.
Tomorrow he wraps up his visit with talks with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and deputy prime minister Dan Meridor.
He said he will urge both sides to keep talking in an effort to break the diplomatic impasse. “Obviously the only way to resolve issues is to keep talking. We fully support the efforts of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to keep the sides engaged.”
Tomorrow, Mr Gilmore will also visit Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem holocaust memorial museum. The visit coincides with Ireland marking International Holocaust Memorial day.
Prospects for progress in the deadlocked peace process appear bleak, with Palestinian officials saying that five rounds of discussions, brokered by Jordan, failed to produce a breakthrough to pave the way for the resumption of direct bilateral negotiations.
PLO meetings with Israeli envoys have not been able to restart negotiations, a Palestinian presidential spokesman said yesterday, after Israel said it had fulfilled its obligation to the quartet-sponsored talks.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for Mr Abbas, said Israel did not provide anything to build upon, while the issue of borders and security is still pending.
In the final meeting on Wednesday, Israeli representative Yitzhak Molcho gave a verbal presentation on borders and security, which an Israeli official said complied with the January 26th deadline set by the quartet – comprised of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
However, PLO officials said that no maps were presented at the meeting and the presentation “killed the two-state solution, set aside previous agreements and international law.”
He said the Israeli proposals did not touch on Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
“Basically, the Israeli idea of a Palestinian state is made up of a wall and settlements,” he said.
Israeli officials called for the talks to continue.
Mr Abbas will meet this weekend with the Fatah central committee to discuss the outcome of the discussions in Jordan, before briefing the Arab League follow-up committee on February 4th, when a decision will be taken on whether or not to continue the talks.