In the House of Commons today, MPs are debating Israel and Palestine. In 2014, MPs voted for the UK Government to recognise Palestine; a move that the UK Government says it will only make in “the right time”.
Has that time now come? The prospect of a two-state solution is disappearing rapidly as Israel exerts control over more territory in the West Bank. In 2015 a group of former European Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers wrote to Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs stating that Europe has yet to find a way to hold Israel to account for the way in which it maintains the occupation.[1]“We maintain our view that the current financial and political assistance given by Europe and America to the Palestinian Authority achieves little more than the preservation of the Israeli … Continue reading It is now time, they say, to demonstrate to both parties how seriously European public opinion takes contraventions of international law, the perpetration of atrocities and the denial of established rights.
If negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders remain as distant a prospect as they are today, the calls for international recognition of Palestinian sovereignty will grow louder. This, no doubt, will be a topic of debate in the House of Commons today.
Last week the Methodist Conference, while acknowledging the long association of the Jewish people with the region of the Holy Land and the aspiration of many for return, expressed its regret at the damaging consequences of the Balfour Declaration for the Palestinian people.[2]“Conference noted that in recent years the incidence of house demolitions in the occupied territories has been increasing and is dismayed that in 2016 the number of structures demolished by the … Continue reading The Conference directed letters to be sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other parties.
For the full text of Methodist Conference memorials and replies see pages 571 to 575 here – Memorials 2017
For the Church of Scotland report on the Balfour Declaration see Embracing Peace and Working for Justice – A Joint Report on the Centenary of the Balfour Declaration
References
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“We maintain our view that the current financial and political assistance given by Europe and America to the Palestinian Authority achieves little more than the preservation of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and imprisonment of Gaza.” “Standards of living and human rights in both [the West Bank and Gaza] have sunk shockingly low. It is no longer possible for the EU to allow these conditions to continue without grave risk to its international reputation and to its long-term interest in the stability of its neighbourhood.” |
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| ↑2 | “Conference noted that in recent years the incidence of house demolitions in the occupied territories has been increasing and is dismayed that in 2016 the number of structures demolished by the Government of Israel was higher than any year since the UN began systematic recording in 2009, displacing some 1,600 Palestinians and affecting the livelihoods of over 7,000 people.” |
