Ireland moves to ban imports from Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories

Ireland says it will put forward legislation to ban trade with Israeli exporters based in the occupied Palestinian territories. In a legal first for an EU member state, the planned embargo will target agricultural goods like olives, oranges and dates, curtailing trade with Israeli settlements under international law.

Posting on X, Ireland's foreign minister Simon Harris said "it cannot be business as usual" with Israel. "It's absolutely clear that the world has to act, and the world has not done nearly enough," Harris added.

Draft legislation is expected later this week in the Irish parliament, but will not result in a wider boycott on Israeli goods.

Open letter

The move follows an open letter on Friday from 400 of Ireland's most senior legal academics and lawyers. In it the group calls for the reenactment of the stalled 2018 Occupied Territories Bill. The proposed legislation had called for a ban on Israeli businesses operating from Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, but it was abandoned over concerns it may breach EU trade rules.

The group, including some of Ireland's top barristers, says that position has since been overturned by an advisory note from the International Court of Justice last July. The update from ICJ in The Hague deemed Israel's presence in the contested regions "unlawful", adding the country should "end its presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as rapidly as possible." 

As such, the open letter concluded that failure to enact the bill would be "an abrogation of Ireland's long-standing commitment to international law and human rights."

Attacks 

The occupied territories, containing some of Palestine's most valuable agricultural land, have been hit in the ongoing conflict with the Israeli state.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates 96 square kilometers of land used for olive cultivation in the West Bank went unharvested in 2023 because of Israeli-imposed restrictions. This resulted in a loss of revenue of $10 million for Palestinian farmers.

Meanwhile, a UN report last November claimed that attacks by Israeli settler groups on Palestinian farmers had at least tripled during the olive harvest season in 2024, compared to each of the preceding three years. It concluded Palestinian farmers in the region had faced "the most dangerous olive season ever" last year. 

Backing

Dublin has long given its backing to the Palestinian cause in the Middle East, joining Sweden in recognising Palestinian statehood in May 2024, along with Spain and Norway. 

Other nations are seeking to curb trade relations with Israel. Last week, the UK suspended free trade agreement talks in protest against the latest military offensive in Rafah. British Foreign Minister David Lammy accused Netanyahu's government of "isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world".