Renamed Occupied Territories Bill banning importation of West Bank goods goes to Cabinet

Tánaiste Simon Harris is tabling the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 today.

The proposed legislation would ban trade with the occupied Palestinian territory – effectively meaning the West Bank of the river Jordan, which is supposed to be land of the Palestinian Authority, run by the ­Fatah organisation.

The legislation is in response to aggressive and illegal land encroachment by Israeli settlers, often supported by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), and the further displacement of Palestinians.

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The settlements are contrary to international law and have been regularly condemned, most recently in connection with an EU examination of whether the human rights provisions of the EU-Israel Association Agreement are being complied with by the government of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The new bill, once passed into law, will render any import from the occupied territories an offence under the Customs Act 2015, the main legislation dealing with all customs offences.

The Government has said the long delay in bringing forward such a bill, originally tabled by Independent senator Frances Black, was because of legal sensitivities pointed out by the Attorney General, with the EU having competence on trade matters within the bloc as a whole, unless member states can mount an argument concerning domestic law and foreign transgressions.

The provisions of the bill will be enforced by customs officers

In practical terms, the provisions of the bill will be enforced by customs officers, and do not apply to any notional imports from Gaza, which is under Israeli occupation but which previously voted for a Hamas-­run local government.

The Tánaiste has repeatedly said he is very open to considering the inclusion of services, as distinct from goods, in the bill – the detail of which will now be picked apart by the opposition, section by section.

If approved by the Cabinet today, the bill will be sent to the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for pre-legislative scrutiny.

Mr Harris has said that legal clarity is needed on whether it is possible to include services and he has asked the Attorney General to advise on this.

Separately, the Tánaiste in his role as Defence Minister will also ask ministers to approve the continued deployment of a dozen members of the Defence Forces participating in the international security presence in Kosovo (KFOR) for a further year.

Ireland has been part of KFOR, which is UN-mandated and Nato-led, since August 1999.