Al Jazeera English published this video item, entitled “🇮🇪🇵🇸 Will Europe follow Ireland’s lead on Palestine? | The Stream” – below is their description.
Ireland has become the first EU nation to call Israel’s illegal settlement activity on Palestinian land a “de facto annexation”.
It is the strongest condemnation of Israeli settlement expansion by a Western country. Ireland’s parliament, or Oireachtas, passed the motion unanimously on May 26, less than a week after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that halted 11 days of fighting. Amendments to expel Israel’s ambassador to Ireland and for Irish sanctions against Israel were defeated.
In a tweet, Israel’s foreign ministry called Ireland’s position on its settlements “outrageous and baseless”.
Some Irish politicians say the move could be the first step towards holding the Israeli government accountable for illegal activity under international law. In other cases of annexation – such as Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea – EU sanctions have been imposed.
In this episode of The Stream, we’ll discuss the implications of Ireland’s latest show of solidarity for Palestine.
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About This Source - Al Jazeera English
The video item below is a piece of English language content from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is a Qatari state-funded broadcaster based in Doha, Qatar, owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network.
Crimea is a peninsula along the northern coast of the Black Sea in Eastern Europe. It has a population of 2.4 million, made up mostly of ethnic Russians with significant Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar minorities.
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. Its members have a combined area of 4,233,255.3 km² and an estimated total population of about 447 million.
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George’s Channel.
Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2016, 4.8 million people live in the Republic of Ireland, and 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
The Irish climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate, and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.
A strong Irish culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music and the Irish language. The island’s culture shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing, and golf.
Israel, a Middle Eastern country on the Mediterranean Sea, is regarded by Jews, Christians and Muslims as the biblical Holy Land. Its most sacred sites are in Jerusalem. Within its Old City, the Temple Mount complex includes the Dome of the Rock shrine, the historic Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Israel’s financial hub, Tel Aviv, is known for its Bauhaus architecture and beaches.
Palestine, recognized officially as the State of Palestine by the United Nations and other entities, is a de jure sovereign state in Western Asia claiming the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as the designated capital, although its administrative center is currently located in Ramallah.
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the south.
Russia spans more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, stretching eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. Moscow is the country’s capital.
The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and since 1993 Russia been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Russia is a major great power, with the world’s second-most powerful military, and the fourth-highest military expenditure. As a recognised nuclear-weapon state, the country possesses the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.