The Irish parliament has unanimously passed a motion condemning the “unlawful de facto annexation” of Palestinian land including east Jerusalem by the Israeli occupation authorities.
The motion tabled by the opposition Sinn Fein party passed on Wednesday after receiving cross-party support.
This makes it the first European Union country to take such position and use the phrase “unlawful de facto annexation” in relation to Israel’s presence and land theft in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The parliament however rejected a proposal to expel the Israeli ambassador from the Republic and impose comprehensive sanctions against Israel by 87 votes to 46 with no abstentions.
Ireland’s government for its part announced its support for the parliamentary motion to condemn Israel’s de facto annexation of Palestinian land.
“The scale pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground… It is de facto annexation” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told the parliament on Tuesday.
“This is not something that I or in my view this house says lightly. We are the first EU state to do so. But it reflects the huge concern we have about the intent of the actions and of course their impact” he added.
