Over 100 MPs, trade union general secretaries, and prominent figures have called for the government to take action against Israel’s plans to annex huge swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Signatories include Palestinian lobby groups, Jeremy Corbyn and the Muslim MPs Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana.
The move follows a call from Palestinian civil society issued on May 21st for “effective measures” by all states to stop Israel’s illegal annexation – including a ban on arms sales and military-security cooperation with Israel, and an end to trade with illegal Israeli settlements.
The new Israeli administration – a coalition led again by Benjamin Netanyahu – has said that it intends to formally annex large swathes of land in the West Bank starting in July. This land was militarily occupied by Israel in 1967 and is recognised internationally as Palestinian territory.
Pro-Palestinian campaigners say the annexation would mark the culmination of “years of appropriation of land,” through the forced displacement of Palestinians, settlement and the annexation of East Jerusalem.
The statement, coordinated by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, can be read underneath in full:
The new Israeli Government has said that it intends to annex large swathes of Palestinian land in the West Bank, starting in July, land which was militarily occupied in 1967. This would be the culmination of years of appropriation of land – through the forced displacement of Palestinians, settlement and the annexation of East Jerusalem. Annexation, illegal under international law, is the forcible and unilateral acquisition of territory over which it has no recognised sovereignty and to make it an integral part of the state – in this case, Israel.
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Palestinian civil society has made a global call for “effective measures” to be taken to stop this annexation happening. If the measures are to be effective, this means the UK should now, at the very least, be adhering to an ethical policy on all the UK’s trade with Israel, in particular by applying international law on settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and stopping any arms trade with Israel that is used in violation of the human rights of Palestinians.
In the midst of the Covid pandemic a number of organisations and individuals are cooperating to try to respond to the call from Palestine by making annexation a live issue on the current political agenda. Israel’s timetable is to annex land quickly with Trump’s support – this means we cannot wait.
Organisations
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Amos Trust
Artists for Palestine UK
British Palestinian Policy Council
Europal Forum
Jews for Justice for Palestinians
Labour and Palestine
Liberal Democrats Friends of Palestine
Labour Friends of Palestine and Middle East
SNP Friends of Palestine
Stop the War Coalition
Palestinian Forum in Britain
Palestinian Return Centre
War on Want
Parliamentarians
Apsana Begum MP
Baroness Tessa Blackstone
Baroness Christine Blower
Alan Brown MP
Baroness Pauline Bryan
Richard Burgon MP
Ian Byrne MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Bob Doris MSP
James Dornan MSP
Lord Hugh Dykes
John Finnie MSP
Lord Peter Hain
Neale Hanvey MP
Lord John Hendy
Rachel Hopkins MP
Ian Lavery MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Kenny MacAskill MP
John McDonnell MP
Ivan McKee MSP
Grahame Morris MP
Brendan O’Hara MP
Kate Osborne MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
Tommy Sheppard MP
Andy Slaughter MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Jon Trickett MP
Claudia Webbe MP
Sandra White MSP
Mick Whitley MP
Leanne Wood MS
Trade Unions
ASLEF
Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary NEU
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary TSSA
FBU
Jo Grady, General Secretary UCU
Len McCluskey, General Secretary Unite the Union
John Phillips, Acting General Secretary GMB
Barbara Plant, President GMB
RMT
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary PCS
Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, BFAWU
Mick Whelan, General Secretary ASLEF
Individuals
Omar Al-Qattan
Salman Abu Sitta
John Austin
Sarah Beddington
Tamara Ben Halim
Geoffrey Bindman
Victoria Brittain
Julie Christie
Chipo Chung
Caryl Churchill
Selma Dabbagh
William Dalrymple
Izzat Darwazeh
Brian Eno
Shepard Fairey
David Farr
Lindsey German
Arthur Goodman
Professor Kamel Hawwash (Chair PSC)
Canon Garth Hewitt
Nadia Hijab
Kate Hudson (Gen Secretary CND)
Betty Hunter
Ben Jamal (Director PSC)
Ghada Karmi
A.L.Kennedy
Sara Husseini
Hugh Lanning
Mike Leigh
Ken Loach
Dr. Dina Matar ( Chair, Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS)
Kika Marlham
Yann Martel
Jenny Morgan
Professor Karma Nabulsi
Chris Nineham
Maxine Peake
John Pilger
Philip Pullman
Hilary Rose
Steven Rose
Atallah Said, OBE (Chair, British Arab Association; Honorary Chair, British Palestinian Policy Council)
Zac Sammour,
Aimee Shalan
Alexei Sayle
Clare Short
David Thompson
Colm Tóibín
Harriet Walter
Irvine Welsh
Wolf Alice
