DUBLIN, April 5 (Reuters) - Ireland's 15-billion-euro

sovereign investment fund will divest from six Israeli

companies, including some of its largest banks, over their

activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, Finance

Minister Michael McGrath said on Friday.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), which invests

at home to support economic growth but also holds a portfolio of

liquid international assets, has come under pressure from the

main opposition party, Sinn Fein, to divest the assets.

Long a champion of Palestinian rights, Ireland last month

joined Spain, Malta and Slovenia in taking the first steps

toward recognising Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and

the Gaza Strip.

It will sell shareholdings totalling 2.95 million euros

($3.20 million) in Bank Hapoalim BM, Bank Leumi-le

Israel BM, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi

Tefahot Bank Ltd, First International Bank

and Rami Levi CN Stores, one of Israel's leading

supermarket chains.

"I have been advised by the National Treasury Management

Agency (NTMA) that it has decided to divest from certain ISIF

global portfolio investments in companies that have certain

activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," McGrath said

in a statement.

The decision will be implemented as soon as possible over

the coming weeks, he added.

The world's largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway's $1.6

trillion fund, has over the years divested from nine Israeli

companies over activities in the occupied Palestinian

territories.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem -

areas of historic Palestine that the Palestinians want for a

state - in 1967, and has since built extensive Jewish

settlements in the West Bank.

The U.N. refers to the territories as occupied, something

Israel disputes, and demands that Israeli forces withdraw.

($1 = 0.9225 euros)