Sinn Féin TD and spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Seán Crowe has said that the Programme for Government agreed by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and the Greens represents an abandonment of the Palestinian people at a time when they need international support more than ever.

Teachta Crowe said that the impending annexation of the West Bank and Jordan Valley necessitated Ireland recognising the State of Palestine in the face of such existential danger.

The removal of the Occupied Territories Bill from the Programme before a UN vote on Wednesday was a cynical betrayal of the Palestinians in the name of the outgoing Government’s vanity project of getting onto the Security Council, said Teachta Crowe.

The Dublin South West TD said;

“Palestine needs our support and the support of the international community now more than ever. The current Israeli government is cobbled together on the promise of further invasion and annexation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. This will begin as soon as July 1st.

“While the three presumptive parties of Government speak honied words of Ireland’s support for a two-State solution and their support of the Palestinian people, this unilateral action by the Israelis effectively ends any possibility of that solution. The outgoing Government continually cried false that ‘the time was not right’ to recognise the state of Palestine. It seems that Fine Gael managed to get that same lame justification into the Programme for Government.

“It is clear that the removal of the Occupied Territories Bill is little but a sop to the outgoing Government’s vanity project of getting onto the UN Security Council, a vote on which happens tomorrow.

“The Palestinians need more than just our solidarity now. They need firm and decisive action. Ireland must recognise the state of Palestine in the face of impending annexation. We must also enact the Occupied Territories Bill and show the world that Ireland will not stand for the plunder of illegally held lands anywhere in the world.”