The Irish prime minister said in a statement, which built on the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion that all states should not extend any aid or assistance that maintain the occupation of Palestine.
The Prime Minister of Ireland, Simon Harris, announced on Tuesday that his country is considering reviewing a bill to ban imports from Israeli-occupied territories for violating humanitarian law, the Anadolu news agency reported.
The Irish prime minister revealed that Dublin is contemplating the approach to take in regard to trade with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).
Harris revealed that the Irish government is considering the move after it received “legal confirmation from the country’s attorney general in accordance with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) Advisory Opinion, Anadolu said.
The Irish prime minister said in a statement, which built on the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion that all states should not extend any aid or assistance that maintain the occupation of Palestine.
“This duty includes an obligation to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT,” he noted while voicing his country’s embrace of this opinion.
‘Undoubted War Crimes’ – Irish PM Calls for Urgent Review of EU-Israel Agreement
The ICJ issued an advisory opinion in July, in which it determined that Israel’s decades-long occupation and annexation of Palestinian land violates fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, requesting an end to it as soon as possible.
“As I said at the time, the international community must turn its mind to implementation. This is more urgent than ever. The death and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank must stop. Israel must fulfill its obligations under international law,” he was quoted by Anadolu as saying.
Harris disclosed that his government will review the bill and prepare amendments to comply with the Constitution and the European Union law, and work on resolving “a range of complex policy and legal issues.”
“The Government is committed to taking forward this work, commencing with a review of the Bill, to be progressed in consultation with the Attorney General, relevant Ministers, and the Sponsor of the Bill (Senator Frances Black),” the Irish prime minister was quoted by Anadolu as saying.
According to Harris, the attorney general of Ireland clarified that that there is room in EU law allowing member states to take national action, thus Dublin will reconsider the Occupied Territories Bill.
“It is the government’s intention that any trade restrictions would focus on the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” he noted.
Harris reiterated his country’s “demand for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and a massive scale-up of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Anadolu reported.
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He concluded by urging members of the EU to deliberate on the consequences of the Advisory Opinion on EU-Israel relations and to accordingly implement measures at the EU level.
The Irish prime minister called last week on the European Union states to review an accord to determine the EU’s trade relations with Israel in view of the ICJ’s recent Advisory Opinion on Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Earlier in August, Harris has called on the European Union to “urgently” reconsider its partnership agreement with Israel due to its ongoing war on Gaza that has killed close to 40,000 Palestinians.
“I again call for an urgent review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement,” Harris said in a statement on August 11. “The Agreement contains human rights clauses, and I do not believe it is conscionable for the EU to continue to render them redundant.”
There is growing evidence of “a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe,” the Irish PM said, “and I am particularly disturbed by the confirmation this weekend by the United Nations that the number of aid deliveries reaching Gaza has halved, from a daily average of 169 trucks in April to fewer than 80 trucks a day in June and July.”
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 42,792 Palestinians have been killed, and 100,412 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
