The Irish government has approved the drafting of a bill to ban imports from Israeli settlements considered illegal under international law, marking an unprecedented step for a European Union member state.
The move comes after the International Court of Justice last year said Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip was illegal under international law, in an advisory opinion the Irish government said guided its decision.
"The government has agreed to advance legislation prohibiting trade in goods with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory," a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP.
"It is the government's view that this is an obligation under international law."
The settlements include residential, agricultural and business interests that lie outside Israel's internationally recognized borders.
Before the cabinet decision, Foreign Minister Simon Harris told reporters he hoped other EU countries would follow Ireland's lead.
"What I hope today is when this small country in Europe makes the decision and becomes one of the first countries, and probably the first country, in the Western world to consider legislation in this space, I do hope it inspires other European countries to join us," said Harris, also Irish deputy prime minister.
Last May, Ireland, along with Spain, Norway and, a month later, Slovenia, recognized the Palestinian state, drawing retaliatory moves from Israel.
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris might move to recognize a Palestinian state as early as June.
Tuesday's move by Dublin comes a week after the EU ordered a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a cooperation deal signed in 1995 that forms the basis for trade ties with Israel.
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said "a strong majority" of the 27 member states at a foreign ministers' meeting backed the move in a bid to pressure Israel.
An Irish import ban would be symbolic and of minimal economic impact, as trade volumes with the territories, limited to goods such as fruit, vegetables and timber, were worth less than one million euros ($1.1 million) between 2020 and 2024.
It "breaks a decades-long, failed deadlock at EU level of criticising the settlements as illegal and a barrier to peace on the one hand, while providing them with crucial economic support on the other," said Conor O'Neill, head of advocacy and policy at Christian Aid Ireland, who helped draft a previous version of the Irish legislation in 2018.
"After decades of saying and repeating that illegal settlements are totally illegal and that the EU is opposed to them, this is the first time that words are being matched with action," O'Neill told AFP.
The foreign ministry spokesperson said an update on the draft legislation would be brought to the government "in the coming weeks."
The bill is not expected to pass into law before autumn.
