Tánaiste warns of worsening situation in West Bank alongside the 'horrors' of Gaza 

Violence by Israeli settlers and armed forces in the occupied West Bank included the incident on June 28 in Hebron when Israeli military forced Palestinian shop owners to close their shops and expelled them from the area. Picture: Mosab Shawer/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty

The world cannot ignore the deterioration of conditions in the West Bank amid focus on the genocide in Gaza, the Dáil has been told.

In less than nine months, Israel has demolished more Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, over building permits than in the whole of last year, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said yesterday as the Dáil heard statements on the situation in Gaza.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said that while there are “horrors” in Gaza including a block on anaesthetics forcing children to undergo surgery without it by Israel, there was a worsening situation in the Palestinian West Bank, where terror group Hamas does not operate. Mr Harris said: 

The expansion of settlements, the displacement of tens of thousands, and rampant settler violence continue unabated. 

"Life for Palestinians in the West Bank is being restricted from all sides.”

He added that since October 2023 after the Hamas attacks on Israel, the Israeli Government has approved 49 new settlements in the West Bank, which have been deemed contrary to international law.

Mr Harris said the decision to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area is “unacceptable and a violation of international law”. 

Since January of this year, at least 40,000 people have been displaced and levels of settler violence are now “unprecedented”, he said.

The Tánaiste said these developments predate the ongoing situation and the events of the past 23 months.

For years, Israel has conducted a policy of marginalisation and oppression of Palestinian people in Gaza and in the West Bank.

"A stark example of this oppression is the arbitrary arrest and detention by Israel of hundreds of Palestinian children. 

"Children report being physically and emotionally abused while in prisons, many held without charge or trial.”

Sinn Féin's foreign affairs spokesperson Donnachadh Ó Laoghaire said the Government must enact the Occupied Territories Bill and that there can be "no arbitrary distinction between goods and services" in the legislation.