Visiting Israel, Irish FM says he’s open for ‘new thinking’ on peace process

Ireland’s foreign minister on Tuesday said he was in favor of “new thinking” about the Israeli-Palestinian peace, acknowledging that the realities on the ground have changed since the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990s.

At the same time, Simon Coveney, who is visiting the region for the fourth time since becoming foreign minister in 2017, stressed his government continues to call for progress in the peace process and stressed that he sees a two-state solution as the only possible outcome.

In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Coveney reiterated Dublin’s opposition to a bill that would criminalize the import of settlement products into Ireland, saying that his government has “effectively blocked” the proposal from advancing.

“We will continue to advocate, yes, for new thinking, because I think a solution now is probably not the same as what a solution looked like 20 years ago. A lot has happened in that time,” Coveney said, in response to a question whether there is a need for new ideas given the ongoing stalemate in the peace process.

“But it’s got to be a negotiated solution, as opposed to an enforced solution on Palestinians because they’re in a weaker negotiating position, perhaps, than Israel is,” he added.

The Palestinians continue to aspire for their own state and no peace agreement will last “unless it involved two functioning states living side by side.”

Achieving such an outcome, which he acknowledged will have to take Israeli security concerns into consideration, will require lengthy negotiations.

In a subtle dig at the US administration, which has taken a clear pro-Israel stance for which it is being boycotted by the Palestinian Authority, he called for a process in which both sides feel they’re equal partners, “as opposed to people deciding what’s good for Palestinians and then presenting it to them. I don’t believe that’s the way you get a peace process successfully concluded,” he said.

“Israel is a super power in the region. It has huge support from the United States in particular but also many other friends around the world,” he added. “Palestinians are in a much, much weaker place in terms of poverty, in terms of being marginalized, in the case of Gaza being cut off from the outside world. Not entirely but certainly substantially.”

In the interview, Coveney said that his government had buried the so-called settlements bill, advanced by independent lawmaker Frances Black, which declares it an offense “for a person to import or attempt to import settlement goods.”

The bill, which already passed in the upper house of Ireland’s parliament and has progressed to the lower house, also calls for five-year prison sentences for people who “assist another person to import or attempt to import settlement goods.”

“We don’t believe that it is legally sound because trade issues are EU competence as opposed to national competence in Ireland. And because we don’t believe it’s legally sound we have effectively blocked the legislation from moving through parliament as it normally would,” Coveney said.

“It’s essentially frozen in the process and it isn’t making progress. And I don’t expect that it will make progress, either, unless the government supports it, and the government won’t be supporting it.”

At the same time, Coveney defended Black’s effort as a “reflection of the frustration” about the stalling peace process. “This isn’t anti-Israel. It is trying to raise awareness and to try to increase the profile of the Middle East Peace Process in terms of the lack of progress that we’ve been seen,” he said.

In July, Senator Black said she was working with colleagues to “ensure that the Government won’t be able to use a technical rule known as a ‘money message’ to stall the Bill on cost grounds,” and expressed the hope that it would eventually be signed into law.

Iran? Before his trip to Israel @simoncoveney said he’ll “discuss how Ireland can support efforts towards a durable two state solution and to convey clearly and firmly Ireland’s concerns about the impact of the occupation, including settlement activity and the blockade of Gaza.” https://t.co/GgwPkbaNww

— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) December 2, 2019
Coveney on Monday evening met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday, he is set to visit Ramallah for discussions with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior officials.

“I will use this opportunity to discuss how Ireland can support efforts towards a durable two state solution to the conflict, and to convey clearly and firmly Ireland’s concerns about the impact of the occupation, including in relation to settlement activity and the blockade of Gaza,” he said Monday, before arriving in Israel.

A brief readout of his meeting with Netanyahu provided by the Prime Minister’s Office said that the two “discussed regional issues and threats to the State of Israel, especially the Iranian threat, and recent developments vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip.”