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The Irish Senate voted at second reading on a bill that would criminalize the importation or sale of goods from different occupied territories, including Israeli settlements, punishable by five years' imprisonment. Imprisonment or a fine of 250,000 euros.
The bill was pbaded in the Senate by a vote of 25 to 20, but still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives before it becomes law.
The Occupied Territories Bill was introduced by a senator in January. has been delayed at the request of the Irish minority government, which does not support it despite the denunciation of the Israeli settlement policy.
"The Irish government has always condemned the building of illegal settlements, but this bill asks the Irish government to do something that it is not legally entitled to do – trade is a skill "This is both opportunistic and irresponsible," tweeted Foreign Minister Simon Coveney last week.
The bill would have a "polarizing" effect at this time "that it would be" open to persuasion "in the future if there was no progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs for the opposition party Fianna Fáil declared that he did not consider the bill as "a boycott of Israel", as it also applies to trade in the northern part of Turkey occupied by the Turks and Western Sahara occupied by Morocco
The Irish opposition party hoped that the adoption of the bill "would mark the beginning of a new stage in which Israel begins to pay a political, economic and moral price. international for its actions "and" a new stage in the treatment of the Zionist lobby a danger to the values Europe claims claims r. "
The Israeli Foreign Ministry immediately responded with a condemnation, calling it a" radical and anti-Israeli populist boycott that "undermines prospects for dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians," and harms Palestinians Working for "The absurdity of the Irish Senate is that the boycott will hurt the livelihood of many Palestinians working in the Israeli industrial zones affected by the boycott," the statement said.
Israel promulgated last year a law that allows it to deny entry to foreign citizens who make a "public call for boycott of Israel" or settlements, when a such appeal has a "reasonable opportunity" to succeed. Many supporters of boycotts against Israel were denied visas or were expelled upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed what he called "the historic motion banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine ". This courageous move builds on the historical ties between Ireland and Palestine, and shows the way forward for the rest of the European Union. "
He stated that the use of such" concrete measures "was vital for the Palestinians, that" those who trade with Israeli settlements are complicit in the systematic denial of Palestinian right to self-determination ".
The Communist Party (Arabic) List of Israel also expressed support for the motion in a press release before second reading.
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