Palestine group in Donegal call on council to pass Occupied Territories Bill

Donegal County Council will debate a motion from Cllr Jimmy Brogan calling on the Government to pass and enact the Occupied Territories Bill at its meeting on Monday, November 25.

Senators Francis Black and Eileen Flynn, who initiated the Bill in the Seanad in 2018, will be present to speak to Councillors prior to the meeting. They will be accompanied by Thomas Pringle TD.

The Occupied Territories Bill is a proposed Irish law that would ban and criminalise" trade with and economic support for illegal settlements in territories deemed occupied under international law in the occupied territories. The bill was tabled in the Seanad by independent senator Frances Black in January 2018, who stated that "trade in settlement goods sustains injustice". She was supported in drafting the Bill by Trócaire, Christian Aid, Amnesty International and ICTU.

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The motion to the Council reads: “To ask that the Cathaoirleach to write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to inform him that Donegal County Council, in light of the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice on the illegality of Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories, calls on the Irish Government to enact the Occupied Territories Bill, to cut Irish trade ties with Israeli goods and services produced in these illegal settlements.”

The Donegal branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign say that they “trust that the members will do the moral and just thing by passing the motion.”

They continued “the Bill has been delayed by the government parties as they said that there were legal difficulties in imposing sanctions. This impediment has been removed since the International Court of Justice ruled that all Israeli colonial settlements constituted an occupation and are illegal in July. They also ruled that they should all be removed and that reparations should be paid for the damage caused. The ruling further determined that the colonial settlements constituted the crime of Apartheid.”

The DIPSC is calling on all its supporters to lobby their local councillors, urging them to vote in favour of the motion and to send a clear message that Donegal, “condemns Israel’s crimes of apartheid and genocide”. They encourage supporters to assemble outside the Council offices in Lifford on Monday morning at 10:30 to lobby the councillors as they enter the council.