The Tánaiste Micheál Martin has criticised remarks by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, over the weekend, appeared to reject the idea of a future Palestinian state.
In a post on X on Saturday following talks with US President Joe Biden, Mr Netanyahu said: "I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan - and this is contrary to a Palestinian state".
Arriving at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels this morning, Mr Martin described the remarks as "unacceptable".
"[They] do not contribute in any way to the prospects of peace.
"I would say to prime minister Netanyahu, he needs to listen to the vast majority of the world who want peace and who wants a two state solution on the basis that a two state solution is the ultimate security guarantee for Israel and for Israeli citizens, and for Palestinians in terms of a future prospect of living in harmonious coexistence.
"There is no other alternative on the table to a two state solution that is sustainable, and that will make for a sustainable peace into the future."
EU foreign ministers are expected to spend six hours discussing the Middle East, including during a round of separate engagements with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League and the Israeli foreign minister.
The Tánaiste told reporters: "We will be, again, putting a lot of pressure on and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and also absolutely unimpeded access for humanitarian aid.
"The reports we are receiving, even as late as last evening, are dire in respect to what's happening within Gaza, in terms of starvation, in terms of the humanitarian consequences of this war."
Mr Martin said there was no excuse for any delay in getting vital aid into Gaza.
"We'll be making those points very strongly - also the need for the unconditional release of all hostages that are held by Hamas."
Ministers will discuss a draft 10-point peace plan put forward by the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, which envisages a two-state solution and full normalisation of relations between Israel and the Arab world.
The plan proposes a "Preparatory Peace Conference" involving the EU, US, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and United Nations, with participants in constant touch with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
The conference would have one year to design a framework for a peace plan.
Arriving at today’s meeting Mr Borrell said: "We have to stop talking about a peace process and to start talking more concretely about a two-state solution process."
Responding to Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent rejection of a two-state solution, Mr Borrell said the two-state solution had been "approved by the United Nations and the whole international community is behind it."
He said the way Israel that was trying to destroy Hamas was only "seeding hate" for generations.
"We have in mind what Hamas is and what Hamas has done, and [we] certainly reject and we have condemned [it], but peace and stability cannot be built only by military means. I say that with a full respect to the victims of Hamas terrorist attacks," he said.
Mr Borrell said he had invited Arab foreign ministers in order to listen to their own peace initiative, which is designed to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza as part of a broader plan to normalise relations with Israel if it agrees to "irreversible" steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
Mr Martin said: "Leaders in the Arab countries are working on a template for a peace initiative from their perspective, which we eagerly await. I've had some contact with foreign ministers from those countries last week, and will continue with those today, and that will be part of it.
"We're very clear that Europe has to contribute and be supportive of all efforts towards getting peace here and getting a ceasefire."
The Tánaiste has also called for the EU to finalise sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been targeting Palestinian civilians and communities.
He said "one or two" EU member states were still holding out against sanctions and he would be speaking to foreign ministers from those states to urge them to drop their objections.
"Ireland is very clear that there have to be sanctions. There is agreement in terms of sanctions against Hamas, which is correct, but equally there needs to be agreement on sanctions against West Bank violent settlers, and we're very clear on that.
He said violent Jewish settlers were "creating huge tensions, and it represents the willful displacement of Palestinian communities within the West Bank. By definition that then undermines the prospect of a two state solution".
Mr Martin said Ireland would support a proposed EU maritime monitoring mission to the Red Sea in order to protect commercial shipping from attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
"We would support that," he said.
"We will not be participating in that, but in terms of self-defence and defending European personnel, member states are entitled to do that, but also to protect lives and livelihoods in terms of supply chains and in terms of making sure that vital supplies can get across the world.
"We all know in situations like this, when trade and supply chains are disrupted by violent attacks on ships, particularly from the Houthis in Yemen, what that does ultimately is [that] the poorest suffer, the poorest in Africa, the poorest in the Middle East.
"That's why the idea of monitoring and surveillance by the EU is reasonable."
