31 Jan 2019; MEMO: Some 133 British Members of Parliament and peers have co-signed a letter urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to oppose the newly-published US “peace plan” for Israel and the Palestinians.
In the letter, published by CAABU yesterday, the parliamentarians express grave concern over the Trump administration’s plan, which they say “shows contempt for the aspirations and rights of the Palestinian people and international law, and provides no realistic basis for a return to negotiations”.
The signatories have urged the PM to reconsider the “welcome” offered by the government for the document, as well as to spell out what action it will take in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex portions of the occupied West Bank.
In no uncertain terms, the MPs and peers call on Johnson to work with other countries to “demonstrate that serious breaches of international law result in serious consequences”.
The announcement on the CAABU website quoted Rushanara Ali MP, “who led the letter”.
“That so many MPs and peers from across the house have so rapidly signed on to this letter demonstrates the real depth of concern felt in Westminster about this reckless plan and the agenda of annexation it promotes,” Ali stated.
“On my recent visit to the West Bank [in 2019] I saw for myself the rapid deterioration in humanitarian situation, and the extent to which the occupation has wrested away from the Palestinian people their right to self-determination and control over their daily lives.”
“The vision presented by President Trump is one where this supposedly ‘temporary’ occupation is made permanent, condemning the region to a future of two people on the same land in a situation of perpetual inequality,” the MP continued.
