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Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade - Micheál Martin

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We are witnessing an alarming increase in Israeli violence against Palestinians. Palestine is now on fire, set ablaze by violent settlers, incited and cheered on by a far-right government, and overseen by a complicit military force.
Since the year began, three deadly raids have been carried out by the Israeli military in the West Bank cities of Jenin, Jericho and Nablus. These preceded the pogrom in Huwara and its neighboring villages. At the time of writing, 84 Palestinians have been killed by either Israeli occupation forces or illegal colonial settlers; an average of one person killed every day of 2023, 13 of them were children.This follows on from last year, in which 231 Palestinians were killed, the deadliest year for West Bank Palestinians since 2005.
Although all past Israeli governments have consistently pursued the same repressive settler-colonial apartheid policies against the Palestinian people, the current extremist government is pushing things to a new level.
Prominent members of Israel’s far-right government have made inciting statements and legitimised settler violence against Palestinians, and openly pledged to take over even more Palestinian land. Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, unapologetically <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-should-wipe-out-palestinian-town-of-huwara-says-senior-minister-smotrich/#_blank">stated that</a> “the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out” and that “the State of Israel should do it." Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-02-27/ty-article/.premium/israels-ben-gvir-vows-to-crush-enemies-after-settlers-west-bank-revenge-riot/00000186-9262-db08-a986-de76609a0000">stated that </a>"our enemies need to hear a message of settlement, but also one of crushing them one by one."
Such statements testify to the fact that settler violence takes place under the auspices, and with the imprimatur, of the State of Israel. As B'Tselem -Israel’s leading human rights organisation-  <a href="https://twitter.com/btselem/status/1630120490361552897">correctly states</a>, “this isn't ‘loss of control’. This is exactly what Israeli control looks like. The settlers carry out the attack, the military secures it, the politicians back it. It’s a synergy. The Huwara pogrom was an extreme manifestation of a long-standing Israeli policy. It was carried out by the state of Israel.”
That is to say, the expansion of Israeli settlements, destruction of Palestinian properties, and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians –such as in Masafer Yatta and the Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhoods of Jerusalem– are carried out in a coordinated manner involving the Israeli military, colonial police and illegal settlers, all directed by government ministries. The result has been over five decades of ongoing de facto annexation of the West Bank, coupled with regular deadly assaults on Palestinians in Gaza.
The Geneva Conventions are clear; as the occupying power, Israel has an obligation to protect the people under occupation. Despite this, Palestinians have been the victims of Israeli state violence for decades. There is no protection whatsoever for Palestinian lives or livelihoods.
Third states, including our own country, have an obligation to intervene in cases of grave violations of human rights and international law. Decades of inaction, providing -at the very least- a tacit endorsement of these violations, has enabled Israel’s policies of colonialism and apartheid, including the endless expansion of illegal settlements, mass incarceration of Palestinians, extreme violence and death inflicted upon the Palestinian people.
It is beyond time to end this impunity and hold Israel to account by implementing all the measures at third states’ disposal. Tangible actions, including lawful sanctions, are the only way to compel Israel to comply with international law, to cease human rights violations, and to ensure protection of Palestinians.
Such actions should include a two-way military embargo, travel bans on those responsible for human rights violations and war crimes (eg, state officials and settlers), a ban on trade with illegal settlements, cessation of cooperation agreements in all fields (including trade, surveillance and intelligence, gas procurement, scientific joint projects), and active support for the International Criminal Court investigation. 
These are moral and legal obligations for any state that claims to support and promote international law and human rights, especially one which has ratified the Rome Statute. 
There must be a political and economic price attached to Israel’s systematic oppression of Palestinians. The reaction of the international community to Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows us that such punitive actions are possible when there is political will to undertake them. Yet that will has been absent when it comes to the rights of Palestinians.
We appeal to you to take swift action to prevent even graver escalations of Israeli violence and land theft. 
Failure to do so at this critical time, including by hiding behind the tired and cynical rhetoric of a “cycle of violence”, will render our country complicit in whatever catastrophic fate may befall the Palestinian people.

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