On Tuesday last, Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan died in an Israeli prison. He was on hunger strike for 87 days and was held in what the Israelis called administrative detention, in other words, internment. The blame for his death lies solely and squarely with apartheid Israel. We should know about the long history of fighting colonialism via hunger strikes. When will the Tánaiste contact the Israeli ambassador to state his outrage about this issue? When is the time to cut diplomatic and foreign links with apartheid Israel?

We are in constant contact with our European partners and American Near East Refugee Aid, ANERA, about the escalation of violence in Palestine. We have frequently condemned all killings in Palestine and attacks by the Israeli forces in certain towns and villages in the West Bank of late. We called for de-escalation of the violence. Cutting off diplomatic relations would achieve very little. It would marginalise Ireland even more in respect of the-----

Why did we do it in the 1980s?

-----Middle East process. We want to continue to contribute to a resolution of the issues there, which we do as a country in our supports to ANERA, non-governmental human rights organisations in Palestine and our support more generally for the Palestinian National Authority.