Tánaiste pledges €5m in funding for Lebanon

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has told an international donor conference for Lebanon in Paris that Israel must be held accountable for any breaches of international law.

Pledging a further €5 million towards the refugee crisis in Lebanon, Mr Martin said: "I took the opportunity really to call out what is happening, and the systematic and serial breaches of international humanitarian law through the conduct of these wars by Israel, by Hezbollah and by Hamas.

"Israel has to be held accountable for what's going on in terms of the bombing of civilian populations in Lebanon."

The conference heard from international relief organisations about the systematic destruction of health care facilities and schools in Lebanon.

The Tánaiste said there were "well over a million people displaced [from Lebanon], people who already were in a destitute condition, having fled from Syria, now fleeing back into Syria. It's absolutely unacceptable."

He also raised the issue of Israel's intensifying attacks on northern Gaza, calling for the international community to insist on political and media delegations to be allowed into the area to "shine a light on what is happening".

Mr Martin said it was unlikely that the Occupied Territories Bill would complete its passage through the Dáil before the election, although it was making good progress.

He said Department of Foreign Affairs officials would meet Senator Francis Black's legal advisors next week with a view to having a committee hearing before a general election was called.

"That's within a matter of weeks now," he said.

Mr Martin said that as a result of the International Court of Justice opinion in July on Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, there was now a "narrow pathway" to allow the Government to draft legislation to ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements.

Asked how the Bill could be compatible with the EU's exclusive competence on trade, Mr Martin said: "That's exactly what the drafting of the legislation will address.

"We believe, following the advice we've received, that there is a pathway there to public policy positioning to enable us to do that."

He added: "It will be challenging, and part of the reason that amendments are required is to enable it to be a stronger bill that can withstand legal challenge, because as the bill is currently drafted, it needs substantive amendments."

He said the Bill would have to be in line with the Constitution and the exclusive competence of the EU on trade.
He said the ICJ advisory opinion placed on states an obligation to ensure that they would do nothing that would support or aid the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

France has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire.

However, its influence has been limited since Israel launched a large-scale onslaught on Iran-backed Hezbollah in September that has seen thousands displaced and more than 2,000 people killed.

Paris hastily arranged the conference as a means to show it still has clout in its former protectorate, but few major ministers are attending.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken opted to go on a last-ditch tour of the Middle East before next month's election and will skip the Paris meeting despite being in London on Friday, instead is sending a deputy in his place.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, whose country has been reluctant to engage in Lebanon, will also not be present.

According to a framework document sent to delegations, the conference aims to reiterate the need to cease hostilities based on the 2006 UN Security Council resolution 1701, which calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.

It also wants to mobilise the international community to primarily help the 500,000 to 1 million displaced people. Lebanon says it needs €230m a month to deal with the crisis.

It will also seek to ramp up support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), deemed as the guarantor of internal stability, but also vital to implementing resolution 1701.

That centres around ensuring salaries are paid, food and medical supplies provided and equipment and training given with a view to the LAF increasing its numbers and eventually deploying south, officials said.

"It is important that we are able to progress and bring concrete responses," a French presidential official told reporters ahead of the conference.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati and key ministers involved in relief efforts are attending, but neither Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the initiative, nor Iran were invited.

Mr Mikati told the conference that international support will be needed to shore up and expand Lebanon's army and rebuild the country's destroyed infrastructure.

He said the Lebanese government had decided to recruit more troops and could deploy 8,000 soldiers as part of a plan to implement a ceasefire and UN Security Council resolution, which calls for the army to be deployed in southern

President Emmanual Macron said France will give aid worth €100 million to Lebanon, while Germany has pledged €96m.

Questions over Franco-US co-ordination

France is also pushing Lebanese actors - despite reluctance from some - to help by moving forward on the election of a president to fill a two-year power vacuum before a ceasefire.

Quite what can be achieved on the political front is unclear, diplomats said, although France touts its direct contacts with Hezbollah and Iran as a crucial advantage compared to US mediation efforts.

Co-ordination between Paris and Washington is delicate.

US special envoy Amos Rothstein was in Beirut on Monday saying that the US was working on a formula to end the war for good and suggested that merely committing to a previous UN resolution would not be enough.

He made no mention of Paris, although he met President Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic adviser yesterday.

"France wants a ceasefire and believes that Hezbollah will not be eliminated. It does not want to lose what it has invested in this relationship," said a Middle East diplomat. "The US wants the destruction of Hezbollah and is encouraging the Israelis to go further."

European officials have been critical that Washington is not calling for an immediate ceasefire and fear the administration will not alter that position before the election on 5 November.

"It is unclear what the French are trying to achieve with this (conference),' said a Western diplomat. "The French are furious with the US about allowing Israeli operations to continue and the US wants to keep the French at arm's length."

Additional reporting Reuters