26 May 2017
Recognise the state of Palestine – Irish Government must act on Parliament vote of two years ago, says Gerry Adams
‘The international community has largely turned a blind eye to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and of Palestinian political prisoners’
SINN FÉIN LEADER GERRY ADAMS has raised the overdue recognition of the Palestinian state and the mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons with the Irish premier, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
Deputy Adams said that the Irish Government claims to support the two-state solution but refuses to act on the vote by the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament) more than two years ago on a Sinn Féin motion to recognise the state of Palestine.
“It is effectively handing to the Israeli Government a veto over the right of the Palestinian people to a state,” Gerry Adams said.
“This is unfair and at odds with the stance of the overwhelming majority of states at the United Nations.”
● 2015: Sinn Féin Members of the Irish Parliament with the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland, Ahmad Abdelrazek, at the Dáil
He added:
“Irish recognition of a Palestinian state would assist in creating a new dynamic in the efforts for peace.”
The Sinn Féin leader said that more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners are in the fourth week of a mass hunger strike “largely because the international community has turned a blind eye to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and of Palestinian political prisoners”.
The Irish Government has missed an opportunity to demonstrate international leadership and to significantly assist the search for peace in the Middle East.