Ireland Plans to Limit Trade with Israeli Settlements

Ireland’s government is seeking to introduce a bill restricting trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank after it said a UN court decision freed Dublin to make trade decisions independently of the European Union.

The “Occupied Territories Bill” was first tabled in 2018 by an independent lawmaker and despite receiving broad support in Ireland’s parliament, the government noted that it could not bring it forward because the European Union, not member nations, is responsible for the bloc’s trade policy.

However, Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on Tuesday that an advisory opinion by the United Nations’ highest court in July — asserting that Israel’s presence in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza (despite the military’s withdrawal from the Strip in 2005) is illegal — had changed the context of how the government might move forward on the issue.

“Trade is an exclusive EU competence and so the government’s focus has been on achieving action at the EU level,” Martin said in a statement.

“The Attorney General has clarified that if this is not possible, there are grounds in EU law allowing states to take action at a national level. It is in that context that the government will now look again at the Occupied Territories Bill.”

The minister emphasized that the bill will be reviewed and amendments prepared in order to bring it into line with EU law and Ireland’s constitution, adding that a range of complex policy and legal issues remained to be resolved.

In May, Ireland officially recognized Palestine as a state and said it would establish diplomatic ties with Ramallah, angering Israel.