- TAKE ACTION: Labour members, please add your name with over 10,000 other members at https://labourandpalestine.eaction.online/stopannexation
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.
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 territories 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 (see a list of Labour and other prominent figures below) 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.
If you agree with this and want to support the Palestinian call for action, please indicate your agreement with the following statement in one or more of the ways listed below:
SPEAK OUT TO STOP ANNEXATION NOW
“I am speaking out now in order to stop the threatened annexation of Palestinian land by Israel in July and I call on the UK Government and all UK political parties to support the call of Palestinian civil society organisations for Effective Measures by all States to Stop Israel’s Illegal Annexation of the Occupied West Bank.”
- Labour members, please add your name at https://labourandpalestine.eaction.online/stopannexation
Signatories include:
Parliamentarians
Diane Abbott MP
Apsana Begum MP
Baroness Tessa Blackstone
Baroness Christine Blower
Richard Burgon MP
Ian Byrne MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Lord Peter Hain
Lord John Hendy
Rachel Hopkins MP
Stephen Kinnock MP
Ian Lavery MP
John McDonnell MP
Grahame Morris MP
Kate Osborne MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
Andy Slaughter MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Jon Trickett MP
Claudia Webbe MP
Mick Whitley MP
Trade Unions :
Len McCluskey, General Secretary Unite the Union
John Phillips, Acting General Secretary GMB
Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary NEU
Mick Whelan, General Secretary ASLEF
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary TSSA
Jo Grady, General Secretary UCU
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary PCS
Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, BFAWU
FBU
RMT
Barbara Plant, President GMB
Organisations:
Labour and Palestine
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Amos Trust
Artists for Palestine UK
British Palestinian Policy Council,
Jews for Justice for Palestinians
Labour Friends of Palestine and Middle East
War on Want
Individuals :
Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine
Dr Hafiz Alkarmi (Chair- Palestinian Forum in Britain)
Philip Pullman
John Austin, former Labour MP
Victoria Brittain
Julie Christie
Brian Eno
Ghada Karmi
A.L.Kennedy
Sara Husseini
Kamel Hawwash, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Professor Karma Nabulsi
Maxine Peake
John Pilger
Alexei Sayle
Irvine Welsh
Tony Burke, Labour & Palestine
- For a full list see the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website.
Labour & Palestine 