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Benjamin Netanyahu will remain as Prime MInister as part of the deal. PA Images

Simon Coveney condemns Israeli deal to approve Trump's plan for annexation of parts of West Bank

The Minister for Foreign Affairs’ comments come as a new government is set to be formed in Israel.

TÁNAISTE AND MINISTER For Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has criticised a government formation deal in Israel which includes plans to annex territory in the occupied West Bank.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached a deal one-time rival  Benny Gantz to form a coalition government that will also see the pair share the top job.

The three-year agreement allows Netanyahu, 70, to stay in office for 18 months, during which he is due to stand trial on corruption charges he has long denied.

Gantz, 60, will then take over as premier for the remaining 18 months as Netanyahu bows out after 12 years in office — the longest premiership in Israeli history. 

Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, had squared off against Gantz in three inconclusive elections over the past year, but neither had secured enough support to form a viable governing coalition.

A key issue in the government talks was implementation of US President Donald Trump’s controversial Middle East peace plan, which gives Israel the green light to annex Jewish Settlements and other territory in the occupied West Bank.

Such annexations would defy international law and the Trump deal has been rejected by the Palestinians and condemned by much of the international community.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the formation of an “Israeli annexation government,” saying it marked the end of the two-state solution.

In a statement this morning Coveney said that while news a government deal in Israel was positive, one that involved the annexation of territory was against “the rule of law”.

“I take note of reports that a political agreement, reached during coalition negotiations in Israel, foresees the annexation of territory in the West Bank, which is part of the occupied Palestinian territory,” Coveney said.

“A new Israeli government has yet to be formally put in place, and I wish that process well. However, I think it important, as a friend and partner of Israel, to be very clear about the gravity of any such step. 

Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law, including the UN Charter, whenever and wherever it occurs, in Europe’s neighbourhood or globally. This is a fundamental principle in the relations of states and the rule of law in the modern world. No one state can set it aside at will. 

“Ireland remains committed to a negotiated two-state solution that ends the occupation that began in 1967, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States, on the basis of international law, the internationally-agreed parameters and relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” Coveney added.

“This accords with the European Union’s long-standing position. We firmly believe that this is the only outcome which will provide long-term security, freedom and prosperity to both peoples.” 

As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Coveney has criticised other planned Israeli settlements but declined to the support the Occupied Territories Bill which sought to prohibit Ireland from trading in goods and services from Israeli-occupied territories.

Trump deal

As well as prompting criticism within the international community, the annexation plan is likely inflame tensions in the volatile region.

Gantz had praised Trump’s controversial plan but was more cautious regarding its implementation.

The coalition agreement says that any measures regarding Trump’s plan would be executed “in full agreement of the United States,” while maintaining “international dialogue” and “the need to maintain regional stability”.

At the same time, with Gantz’s permission, Netanyahu can bring Trump’s annexation plan to cabinet and parliament for discussion and approval from 1 July.

Speaking yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that a decision whether to annex much of the West Bank is the prerogative of Israel’s new government. 

“As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions,” Pompeo told reporters.

“That’s an Israeli decision. We will work closely with them to share with them our views in a private setting.”

- With reporting by © – AFP 2020

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    Mute James Beattie
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    Feb 4th 2022, 2:31 PM

    They have been self harming since 1690

    242
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    Mute Tom Molloy
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:53 PM

    @James Beattie: In fundamentalists groupings it becomes a competition to prove loyalty through out-extreme-ing competitors in the group. Sorry for inventing a word.

    68
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    Mute Mjhint
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    Feb 4th 2022, 5:25 PM

    @Tom Molloy: this is also the essence of fascism.
    “Fascism has a built in self destruction philosophy”
    Christopher Hitchens

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    Mute James McErlain
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    Feb 4th 2022, 10:39 PM

    @James Beattie: Have you forgotten 1798? A revolution led by the modern day loyalists’ forefathers, who fought alongside their Catholic neighbours to get rid of the British. The Orange Order was created by the British to divide the Presbyterian & Catholic people of Ireland & prevent any future joint rebellions.

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    Mute James Beattie
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    Feb 4th 2022, 2:33 PM

    Take from a Twitter post. Sums it up

    “Poots has been ditched by the DUP. He then carried out the move which loyalist stakeholders had been demanding of the DUP. Then to save face, the DUP are trying to out-Poots Poots by bringing down stormont. Jeffery doesn’t want Poots to be the hero”

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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:42 PM

    @James Beattie: Nail on the head. This is all internal DUP fighting.

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    Mute Angela McCarthy
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    Feb 4th 2022, 4:56 PM

    @James Beattie: Thats one assessment James and a fair one, but I would add like the above article suggests – the DUP is privately quaking at opinion polls north and south and if they cant unite unionism behind their party, they will be dreading the coming election. If and when they refuse to nominate a Deputy First Minister to pair up with Michelle O’Neill, they will finally be left as past emperors with no clothes and many ordinary unionists might well ask them why they contested the elections in the first place.

    All my attention now is on Doug Beatty and his next move. He has an open goal here to become the next leader of unionism, but will he take it and promise to get the executive up and running again and should publicly declare now that if SF captures the greater vote and the UUP comes in second place, that his party will nominate a Deputy First Minister.

    He desperately needs now to put a huge distance between his party and the DUP. Unfortunately, he seems to be caught off guard by the DUP stunts of the last two days and wasn’t prepared. He needs to pump up the volume now and become vocal with real steady leadership for ordinary unionists who can see the DUP have completely lost the plot.

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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Feb 4th 2022, 6:01 PM

    @Angela McCarthy: Beatrice can’t declare his willingness to work with SF or he will lose a large tranche of voters to either the DUP or TUV.
    The sad fact is that a significant number of unionist voters will not stomach a SF First Minister and no unionist party can risk alienating them.
    It’s a sobering judgment on the peace process that that is how things are but facts are facts.

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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Feb 4th 2022, 6:37 PM

    @Justin Gillespie: Beattie not Beatrice, bloody autocorrect…

    5
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    Mute James Gorman
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:08 PM

    DUP just being DUP
    Pulling wardrobe down on top of themselves

    88
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    Mute Patrick Egan
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:20 PM

    Hardly either the first or last time the DUP throw their dodo out of the pram.

    68
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    Mute James Rowan
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:46 PM

    Delusional Unionst Party aka DUP

    65
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    Mute Hugh McCann
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    Feb 4th 2022, 4:45 PM

    Dinosaurs Under Pressure

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    Mute Declan Moran
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    Feb 4th 2022, 5:30 PM

    @Hugh McCann: best description I’ve ever seen Hugh

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    Mute Eoin Roche
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:11 PM

    The most badly led and mostly politically inept political party, of consequence, in all of post-war Europe. You wouldn’t actually be this bad at politics and strategy if you were a blind old dog living on a remote farm.

    110
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    Mute Bernhard Rohrer
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    Feb 4th 2022, 4:27 PM

    FFG in the Republic and Unionists in the North are deposing themselves by sheer inpetitude.

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    Mute Thomas Meaney
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:06 PM

    Where’s the logic in nailing your own coffin shut?

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    Mute Declan Moran
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    Feb 4th 2022, 4:42 PM

    Hopefully an act they won’t recover from. Sick of the serial say no to everything party

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    Mute Billy Davies
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    Feb 4th 2022, 4:24 PM

    Not the sharpest tools in the shed are they?

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    Mute pat seery
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    Feb 4th 2022, 3:59 PM

    Jeffrey will Fall on His Sword like Boris will do nex week

    32
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    Mute camio55
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    Feb 4th 2022, 5:51 PM

    You really have to hope that both the DUP/SF fade away and more enlightened parties emerge to bridge the divide. . Both parties have in the past number of years brought down the NI Executive for their own partisan reasons. They have demonstrated that they are incapable of governing NI together. They live in the past where trimhant rhetoric/mantras are the norm.
    NI has the capacity to excel if it can take advantage of its unique position within the UK and its single market status within in the EU.

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    Mute Karl Phillips
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    Feb 4th 2022, 5:38 PM

    That mob don’t want to share, never watched to share, and now have taken the ball and gone home Delusional Unionist Party love it.

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    Mute Antaine O'Labhradha
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    Feb 4th 2022, 9:57 PM

    Unionism is in Canute mode. At partition, they were up to their knees in the waves. Now, the waves are up to their waists. And still, when the waves are up to their zygomatic arches, they’ll be telling them to begone. What they need now is a leader who will talk to carve out the position as part of Irish society that they want for themselves. They were a political minority when they gerrymandered partition. They’re doubly so now. The fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of Irish people, north and south, want reunification of our country and our people and not to be ruled by the British. As a minority, unionism does not have the right to force British identity or foreign rule on unconsenting Irish people. Certainly, we Irish can, should and will respect their identity. But the constitutional link with the UK has to go, as that option does not command majority support. After negotiations, Orange parades which respectfully celebrate Protestantism [without the usual vile anti-Catholicism and anti-Irishness and the up-to-their-necks-in-fenian-blood hatred for their neighbours] can be a means of carving out their niche in a united Ireland. Perhaps we could get to a stage where Catholics could actually watch these things with no sense of hatred emanating from the marchers and hangers-on. Perhaps Catholics and Protestants here might finally learn to live together in peace, equality and [when permitted by the capitalist economic cycle] prosperity, just like they have done in the rest of the world. There are myriad non-constitutional ways in which their affinity with House Windsor can be facilitated and Charlie can even have her pad in Hillsborough. Imagine how it will be when finally, a person’s religion is an incidental irrelevance and, over time, ceases to be a divisor. But they can no longer keep the blinkers on and think everything’s going their way. It isn’t and won’t be, because of demographic change and democracy. Even old Canute had the sense to get out of the waves before he drowned!

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    Mute Dan Duggan
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    Feb 4th 2022, 6:29 PM

    Thats was just a collection of statements.

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    Mute Raymond Dixon
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    Feb 4th 2022, 6:27 PM

    Well said. There are a pair of them in it.

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