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LAST UPDATE | 22 Sep 2018
PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD Abbas met President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney today.
Coveney had invited Abbas to come to Ireland at their meeting in Ramallah in January.
To coincide with the visit, the Tánaiste announced that additional funding of €1 million will be given from Ireland to the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). This brings Ireland’s total funding to the UNRWA this year to €7 million, our highest ever contribution.
“Ireland is a longstanding supporter of UNRWA’s vital work in delivering healthcare, education and food to 5.3 million Palestine refugees. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East region has meant an increased demand for UNRWA’s services but funding has not kept pace with requirements.,” Coveney said.
He added that the recent US decision to cease all funding to UNRWA has “made the agency’s situation even more precarious”.
I believe that the US decision will impact negatively on the Middle East region. I have made my views on this clear in my contacts with the US administration.
“The services that UNRWA provides are necessary, and will remain necessary, until a durable solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict can be negotiated that meets the needs of both parties and resolves all final status issues.,” he stated.
The Trump administration has cut more than $500 million (about €425 million) in aid to the Palestinians this year in a bid to force Abbas to end the boycott he ordered in December when the US president recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
UN Assembly
The stopover in Ireland comes on Abbas’s journey to the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he’s to give a speech that is feared could trigger an upsurge in violence in the occupied West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip.
Abbas paid a courtesy call to Áras an Uachtarán before holding a formal meeting and working dinner with the Tánaiste at Farmleigh.
Members of the Ireland Israel Alliance protested outside the Áras earlier today. In a statement, the group said it respect that Higgins and Coveney “value dialogue and seek a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Mahmoud Abbas consistently refuses to come to the negotiating table, using any and every excuse to do so”.
The organisation stated that the US and other countries have “pulled millions of dollars of funding from the Palestinian Authority because of their continued incitement to hatred and violence”.
Among the topics expected to be discussed at Farmleigh are the humanitarian and security situation in Gaza and the West Bank; the funding crisis for UNRWA, the UN agency providing food, education and health services in Gaza; and the future of the Middle East Peace Process.
Israel’s right-wing coalition government has expressed strong support for US policy, although there have been repeated reports in the Israeli media of disquiet in the military about its implications for security in the Palestinian territories.
At least 176 Palestinians in Gaza and one Israeli have been killed since protests and clashes erupted on 30 March.
- with reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha and © AFP 2018
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Russia the mushroom state, where the vast majority of the population is kept in the dark and fed on bs. If Putin really thinks that attacking Ukraine is a just cause, he’d be telling his people the truth, instead of desperately trying to keep the lid on what’s taking place.
The basic issue here is Putin and his mates are establishing structures to protect their continued robbery of Russia. Unfortunately Western politicians, bankers and others enabled Russian oligarch’s accumulate their wealth for over 20 years and therefore they share responsibility for the many atrocities recently perpetrated by Russia. Turning a blind eye is costing the world dearly.
@Neil Neart: Wow. I don’t blame anyone but Russia for this.
@Neil Neart: I think you are almost completely right except you forgot to blame Russia for invading its neighbour which is entirely Russias responsibility.
@Neil Neart: I guess you can take your pick-
A. West did nothing to retain Putin over the years- so its our fault.
B. West did too much meddling- so its our fault.
Ejits.
@Neil Neart: I guess you can take your pick-
A. West did nothing to retain Putin over the years so its our fault.
B. West did too much meddling- so its our fault.
Ejits.
Russians negotiating in nothing but bad faith.
Oligarch means millionaire
@David Haye: Including our own who is the owner of Aughish Alumina.
@David Haye: eegit.
@David Haye: Fool
Sanctions against Oleg Deripaska? Michael Martin has his head in the sand about this guy.
There can be no long win here for Russia and though the emperor himself surely now is aware he has no clothes, he is keen to bludgeon his way to consensus on his most magnificent garment amidst the bodies of families and children. Fleeting truth will not last. The Greeks knew the power of the word Logos a deep truth it cannot be hidden.
What about our own Oligarc Oleg?
have your say