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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Water is the Palestinians’ most precious resource.  Control of the water supply, land confiscation and house demolitions, as well as the violence of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and of the settlers, make it clear that Israeli policy is to coerce the Palestinians to vacate the land and to delegitimise their existence. Palestinians cannot trust the Israeli authorities or judiciary to grant them redress.

• Israel has taken sole control of the Mountain Aquifer, the West Bank’s principal water supply and is taking around 80 per cent of it to supply  the illegal settlements and Israel itself.

• The IDF prohibits Palestinians from harvesting rainwater by destroying their cisterns.

• Palestinians are forbidden from drilling new wells or rehabilitating old wells without permits from the Israeli authorities. Such permits are difficult and often impossible to obtain. Even pipelines connecting wells to Palestinian towns and villages require Israeli permits.

• The IDF controls access to the roads which water tankers must use to deliver water to those Palestinian villages not connected to the water network. Many roads are closed or restricted to Palestinian traffic, causing delays or forcing the tankers to make long detours, which significantly increase the price of water.

• Palestinian families have to buy their water from the Israeli water company Mekorot which makes Palestinians pay a price 4 times higher than that charged to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

“There is no reason for Palestinians to claim that just because they sit on lands, they have the rights to that water.”

– Mr. Katz-Oz, Israel’s negotiator on water issues

• When supplies of water are low in the summer months, the Israeli water company Mekorot closes the valves which supply Palestinian towns and villages so as not to affect Israeli supplies. This often means that Israeli settlers have their swimming pools topped up and lawns watered, while Palestinians living next to them, on whose land the illegal settlements are built, do not have enough water for drinking, washing and cooking.

• The average Israeli settler now uses around 400 litres of water a day, twenty times more than many of their Palestinian neighbours have to survive on.

• The Military Orders issued by the IDF soon after it first occupied the area, which gave control of Palestinian water resources to Israel, remain in force today.  (Military Orders 92 and 168 of June and November 1967, and Military Order 291 of December 1968)

• In Madama village 50km north of Jerusalem, settlers from the Yizhar colony have repeatedly vandalized the villagers’ only source of water. They have poured concrete into it, vandalized the connecting pipes and even dropped disposable diapers and other hazardous waste into the springs. The settlers routinely attack villagers trying to repair the water source.

• 90 per cent of tap water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption because it is contaminated by sea water and sewage.

• Under international law it is illegal for Israel either to expropriate the water of the Occupied Palestinian Territories for use by its own citizens or to expropriate it for use by illegal Israeli settlers.

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Originally published for Liberal Democrat Conference 2010

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