Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine

Britain and Israel

• Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Israel and the Occupied West Bank last week.
• See summaries from the BBC (incl. video) and the Guardian.
• Read comment pieces by Stephen Pollard, “William Hague is an enemy of Iran, and that’s good enough for Israel”, and David Pratt, “It is criminal how Britain grovels to Israeli bullying”.

• Universal Jurisdiction remains the issue in British-Israeli relations.
• William Hague: Changes to the legislation “will be in place next year”.
• Labour leader Ed Miliband this week: “I don’t think the current situation is a good one to be in. Clearly not.”

• EDM 108:
• Wednesday’s editorial in the Jerusalem Post: “William Hague is thoroughly welcome here. His Israeli counterparts have the right to expect precisely the same hospitality in the UK.”
• Well, not if war crimes are an issue.
• Has your MP signed EDM108?
• This Early Day Motion “…believes that universal jurisdiction for human rights abuses is essential as part of the cause of bringing to justice those who commit crimes against humanity and will oppose any legislation to restrict this power of UK courts.”
• If your MP has not, use PSC’s excellent e-tool and tell them to do so.

In Parliament

• Baroness Jenny Tonge tabled a question asking the Government “What representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning the four Palestinian Members of Parliament being deported from East Jerusalem?”
• The ensuing debate, which includes important contributions from Lib Dems Lord Dykes, Lord Phillips and Lord Wallace makes for instructive reading.
• Lib Dem MP David Ward asked after the same issue in the Commons. Ward visited Gaza in October as part of a parliamentary delegation led by CAABU.

• In the Lords, members debated Lord Hylton’s question that asked the Government “whether they will work for a comprehensive agreement covering all refugees arising from the Middle East since 1948.”
• The following debate touched on the issues of ‘The Right of Return’, Jews in Muslim-majority countries, the illegal West Bank settlements, and the Palestinian populations in Jordan and Lebanon.
• Baroness Verma spoke on Palestinian access to water and sanitation in the West Bank: “[It] is severely constrained by Israeli movement and access restrictions, particularly in Area C, covering 62 per cent of the West Bank, and around Israeli settlement blocks. Israel has eased some restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank, but we call on them to go further.”

• In the Commons, Alastair Burt reiterated that official UK policy on the Peace Talks is to “do all that we can to support progress towards a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
• Interestingly, Burt also noted that: “This conflict matters to British national security and we will take every opportunity to help promote peace.”
• Minister of State for International Development, Alan Duncan, said in a written response about the humanitarian situation in Gaza: Approximately 75% of Gazans are dependent on food aid and cannot obtain materials needed to rebuild their homes. The water and sewage system is dilapidated, with 90% of mains water unfit for drinking. Many people continue to suffer from post-traumatic stress and other psychological disorders.

And elsewhere…

• Lib Dem Presidential hopeful Tim Farron tells LDFP that, if elected, “I will ensure that within the coalition the Liberal Democrats seek to influence policy to move towards seeking a peaceful two state solution and speaking out against abuses”. See our presidential election page here. We are yet to hear from Tim’s rival Susan Kramer regarding her views on Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• Check the incisive piece on Avigdor Lieberman on Joshua Landis’ brilliant ‘Syria Comment’ blog, “Here are five reasons why I believe Netanyahu chose Lieberman as Israel’s Foreign Minister, and for now, prefers to keep him there”.
• Watch the video interview with Haneen Zoabi (Arab-Israeli MK) on EI. Zoabi argues that: “there is now “no chance” for a two-state solution in Palestine.”
• Ever wondered about the economics of the Occupation? Read the report, “Financing the Israeli Occupation“ by the Coalition of Women for Peace available from Al-Zaytouna, or the EI review of Shir Hever’s “The Political Economy of Israel’s Occupation”.
• And finally, Israel’s Labour Party threatens to walk out of the coalition government unless negotiations with the Palestinians get under way.

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Parliament

• William Hague will be visiting Israeli government representatives next week. Jenni Frazer wonders ‘Will anyone care?’ in the Jewish Chronicle, while MEMO have posted a piece ‘Mr. Hague, this is what you should say to the Israelis next week‘.
• Have any ideas what Mr Hague should say? Why not email him…?
• Nick Clegg seems set to continue his friendship with Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, appearing at their parliamentary luncheon. Why not email him about Liberal Democrat foreign policy, too?

Parliamentary Questions

• LibDem Baroness Tonge asked what legal advice the government had received after the recent Israeli interception of the JFJFP boat Irene, boarded in international waters when flying under a British flag.
• Bizarrely, the government representative responded: “We are unable to comment on whether or when legal advice has been sought/given.” Sounds like the government is trying to hide something? Worthy of an FOI request, perhaps.
• Lord Warner (Labour) asks about the consequences of the Israeli blockage of Gaza, Israel’s restrictions on the importation of essential medical equipment and supplies, and the impact of Cast Lead on the health and education of children in Gaza.
• Responding to a question from Lord Hylton (crossbench), Baroness Verma notes that 18% of the West Bank is closed for Israeli military use, and that this state of affairs exacerbates water shortages faced by Palestinians living in the West Bank.
• Lord Hylton also asks about the supply of basic medicines to Gaza, where ‘there is an average of 80 to 100 items out of stock of 480 essential drugs at any one time’.

West Bank

• According to Arab News, The Palestinian Authority rejected a US offer that Israel lease lands in East Jerusalem and from the future Palestinian state for 40-99 years. YNet runs a similar story about Netanyahu offering a ‘temporary Palestinian state’. Worth a look.
• Human Rights groups are quoted about settler violence against Palestinians’ olive trees in the West Bank. Senior UN official Robert Serry condemned these attacks by ‘settler extremists’ and called on Israel to ‘combat violence and terror by Israelis’.
• MEMO quotes an Arab League report that Israel’s ‘separation wall’ is ‘nearly all built on Palestinian land’. When it is finished, the length of the illegal structure will be 810km, more than twice the length of the Green Line.
• According to a poll conducted by Tel Aviv University and the Israel Democracy Institute, Jewish Israelis are divided on the question of removing some settlements as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians, with 50 per cent in favour and 43 per cent opposed, as reported in Dawn.

Umm el-Fahm

• Jewish ultranationalists undertook a short symbolic march in Israel’s largest Arab town, Umm el-Fahm, inflaming the local population.
• The Jerusalem Post reports that police shot at Arab protestors with rubber bullets, including MK Haneen Zoabi.
• Watch Sky’s footage of the new weapon in the Israeli paramilitary police armoury here.

Gaza

• Israeli Arab Muhammad Zaidan testified that the IDF didn’t treat the wounded aboard the Mavi Mamara
• PSC to Gaza blogpost: ‘The convoys are causing the siege to crumble’.

PSC: Lobby your MP

• Contact your MP now to ask for a meeting at the House of Commons on 24^th November, between 2pm and 6pm, using PSC’s email tool. Alternatively, you can call the office of your local MP and request a meeting personally.
• Once you’ve arranged a meeting with your MP, please email info@palestinecampaign.org so PSC can keep a track of which meetings are taking place.
• Want to know how to lobby effectively? Read PSC’s guide here.

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In Parliament

• Following a question from Caroline Lucas, Alastair Burt writes that “Israeli accession to the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OECD) does not demonstrate an acceptance of illegal settlements or stand in the way of Palestinian statehood.”
• Lucas also queries UK military aid to Israel. Not too long ago, Nick Clegg argued that ‘We must stop arming Israel’. You might like to remind him through his contact page.
• In the Lords, Liberal Democrat Baroness Jenny Tonge also asks important questions in the Lords over Israeli detention of Palestinian children and subsequent beatings and torture, as well as the IDF’s use of Palestinian children as human shields (cf. the Goldstone Report) and shooting at those collecting building gravel in Gaza, as noted in last week’s Eye on Palestine.
• And Liberal Democrat Lord Dykes pushes the Government regarding the early release of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons without due process.

No Change to Universal Jurisdiction

• Read our briefing about the legal power that allows suspected perpetrators of crimes such as war crimes, torture and genocide to be prosecuted in the national courts of countries other than those where the alleged crimes were committed.
• Under ‘intense pressure’ from the US and Israel, the Conservatives are seeking to dilute this important power.
• Use PSC’s fantastic e-tool to email your MP, calling upon them to make public their opposition to any change in the law on universal jurisdiction.

Israel’s loyalty oath

• Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi writes: ‘Loyalty oath relegates Israel’s Palestinian citizens to inferior status’
• British film-maker Mike Leigh has cancelled a trip to Israel in protest against the controversial plan.
• Interesting analysis piece from Jonathan Cook: ‘the self-declared Jewish state qualifies not as a liberal democracy but as a much rarer political entity: an ethnocracy.’

West Bank Settlements

• According to MEMO, Israeli bulldozers have razed more land for housing units north of Shalit. UN envoy Robert Serry describes the flurry of post-moratorium developments as ‘alarming’.
• Read this excellent UN factsheet, ‘The Case of Sheikh Jarrah: October 2010‘ from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in occupied Palestinian territory. Sheikh Jarrah is an East Jerusalem neighbourhood where ‘settler organizations have stated their intent to build at least 540 settlement units… placing an estimated 475 Palestinians at risk of forced eviction, dispossession and displacement’.
• According to EI, Israeli police are now recruiting from the illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Gaza

• In evidence that frequently contradicted his own earlier affidavits the Israeli soldier in bulldozer who crushed Rachel Corrie claims in court that he ‘did not see her’.
• According to AFP, Hamas security forces raided and shut down the headquarters of the Palestinian Journalists Union in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
• The family of Gilad Shalit, the soldier seized by Gaza militants in 2006, sharply criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not securing his release despite the disclosure that a German mediator had renewed contact with both sides.

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• Feel strongly about this? Email your local MP, Nick Clegg, or William Hague.
• What did we miss? Email: info@ldfp.eu. Links do not necessarily imply endorsement.

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On the Conferences

• Check out the footage of our fantastic conference event, hosted by Chris Davies MEP, ‘The Strangling of Bethlehem: Is it time for sanctions?’ – now available online.
• Last week saw the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Conservative Friends of Israel, “the most well-connected and probably the best funded of all Westminster lobbying groups” (Channel 4’s Dispatches), held its Annual Delegates Reception which included speeches from William Hague and Alistair Burt. See the awkwardly proportioned photos here.
• Universal Jurisdiction: Justice Secretary Ken Clarke is expected to table new legislation in the House of Commons in coming weeks. Check out our briefing on the importance of Universal Jurisdiction and lobby your MP now! Unsure of your MP? Look here.
• Conservative Middle East Council held a well-attended event with CAABU about ‘Britain and the Middle East: a 21^st Century Relationship’.
• Alan Duncan, Minister for State for International Development and regarded as a dissident within the Conservative party on Middle East issues, spoke of DFID’s support of the Palestinians at the MAP/New Statesman event. Read more here.
• Discussing the main parties’ conferences, MEMO comments that on Palestinian issues Nick Clegg “was arguably the least impressive of the leaders”, noting his preference for LDFI over LDFP – this year, at least. Martin Bright of the Jewish Chronicle, meanwhile, has decided that: “The Lib Dems won few friends in the Jewish community during the election and issues such as universal jurisdiction, faith schools and anti-terror legislation could yet open up fissures in the coalition. The Jewish community may prefer to ignore the Lib Dems, but it will do so at its peril.”

And elsewhere…

• Palestinians who wish to become citizens of Israel are to be made to pledge allegiance to the country as a “Jewish state” under a controversial plan unveiled by Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
• B’Tselem press release: In the ten years since the second intifada broke out, Israeli security forces killed 6371 Palestinians, of whom 1317 were minors. Read more here.
• The US has a month to rescue the ‘peace talks’.
• Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni: Netanyahu should agree to Obama’s request for settlement freeze extension.
• In a speech in New York, Tony Blair emphasised that the achievement of a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians would remove “much of the poison which… extremists use“.

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What did we miss? Email us at info@ldfp.eu. Links do not necessarily imply endorsement.

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