Britain must lead efforts to stop Israel’s annexation of the West Bank | Letter

By Guardian Staff · The Guardian Opinion

Former ambassadors and high commissioners call on Keir Starmer to stand with European and Commonwealth partners against the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory • Report: UK government urged to act over proposed illegal Israeli settlement While all eyes are on the US-Israel war on Iran, Israel proceeds with its systematic West Bank annexation. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently condemned “ annexation moves ”, including the illegal E1 settlement project designed to divide the West Bank in two and destroy Palestine’s viability. The Iran war and Israel’s military occupation of south Lebanon have delayed the publication of Israeli tenders to build 3,400 houses on Palestinian soil at E1 – but tenders will be issued on 1 June. Criticism by Britain, Germany, France and Italy does not deter this Israeli government, which has over decades grown used to rhetorical condemnation without consequences. So it keeps growing the illegal settlements, deliberately undermining the two-state solution – the policy of successive British governments and our European partners. As Jennifer Rankin has observed ( ‘Weak and pathetic’: why is the EU not using its leverage to stop Israel?, 2 April ), the EU is not using its leverage to stop Israel. Continue reading...