Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, left, follows EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as they arrive at the All-Ireland Civic Dialogue conference on Brexit, in Dundalk, Ireland, Monday April 30, 2018. Barnier is conducting two days o
(Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Simon Coveney said he has made the Israeli-Arab conflict a personal priority

Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, discussing the US peace initiative that is yet to be presented as well as the situation in Gaza which Coveney called “clearly unsustainable”.

Coveney said he has made the Israeli-Arab conflict a personal priority and that he was happy to visit Israel and Palestine for the third time.

"I am glad to have been able, once again, to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. We had an open and frank dialogue, discussing possibilities and concerns, issues we agreed on and issues we did not. As in my meetings earlier today with other key Israeli figures, and with Palestinian leaders, my focus was primarily on looking ahead to areas where we hope to make a difference,” the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs said in a statement after the meeting.

Coveney and Netanyahu also discusses how Ireland and the EU can play a constructive role in encouraging Israel and the Palestinians to “return to real negotiations”, as well as the situation in Gaza where some 125 Palestinians have been killed since weekly mass demonstrations erupted on March 30.

“In the aftermath of the recent deeply regrettable events, I stressed the urgent need to break the downward spiral of the situation in Gaza, which is clearly unsustainable. I followed up my earlier discussions with Prime Minister Netanyahu about the possibilities for practical ways to help change the dynamic in Gaza, to the benefit of both sides,” Coveney said.

“The Prime Minister set out clearly his Government’s views, concerns and ideas on all of these issues. Prime Minister Netanyahu and I also discussed wider issues of mutual interest, in the broader Middle East region and globally, and our bilateral relations, including trade, which we both wish to see continue and to grow,” Coveney concluded.

AP Photo/ John Cogill

Last month, Ireland summoned Israel's ambassador to Dublin to express the government's "shock and dismay" at the deaths of 60 Palestinian protesters during clashes along the Gaza border over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem.

Ambassador Zeev Boker was summoned by Coveney "to express Ireland's shock and dismay at the level of death and injury (yesterday) on the Gaza Strip," the ministry said in a statement then.

Coveney also asked for "restraint from Israel in the hours and days ahead. The ambassador has been informed of Irish demands for an independent international investigation into yesterday's deaths led by the UN," ," the foreign ministry said.

Ireland struck another diplomatic blow to Israel last month when Dublin’s Lord Mayor Michael Mac Donncha called for Ireland to boycott the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest set to be held in Israel after Netta Barzilai claimed an unprecedented victory with her #MeToo inspired winning anthem “Toy”

Seeking to show solidarity with the Palestinians, Mac Donncha told Dublin Live news site that he would back the boycott of the Jerusalem-based event. “I would support that,” he said, “I don’t think we should send a representative.”

“The Irish-Palestine solidarity campaign has collected the names of 500 artists who have said they would not work in the State of Israel, that they would boycott it in the protest of the treatment of the Palestinian people. I think the horrific ordeal of the Palestinian people needs to be highlighted. There needs to be solidarity, just as there was with the people of South Africa with the apartheid regime,” Mac Donncha added.