Thousands of Palestinian mourners in Jerusalem participate in the
funeral of Mohammad Shaham (21) who was killed by the lsraeli occupation
forces more than a month ago, Friday 30 September [photo credit:
@Timesofgaza]
It was in the same letter that she committed to the embassy review
saying that she had discussed it several times with her “good friend”
Lapid. As the Jewish Chronicle
noted at the time: “While stopping short of committing to a move, her
announcement of a review is the furthest any leading politician already
holding high office has gone on the matter.”
Her comment to the Israeli PM a few weeks later in New York strongly
suggests that, like her mini-budget train wreck (which she affirmed once
again to the BBC on 2 October she would hold on to,) this is a plan upon which she intends to move forward.
A letter from two distinguished Canadian law professors to the
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly argues strongly against such a move.
They note that the UK has voted for resolutions 242, 252 and 478
regarding Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories
(OPT). 242 speaks specifically to the “inadmissibility of the
acquisitions of territory by war.” Regarding 252 the letter states:
As an occupying power, Israel is prohibited from asserting any form of sovereign claim to any
portion of the OPT including East Jerusalem. Immediately after its
conquest of the OPT in 1967, the Israeli Cabinet unilaterally and
illegally annexed East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank,
amalgamating them with West Jerusalem. The UN Security Council
immediately declared through resolution 252 that all “legislative
actions taken by Israel… which tend to change the legal status of
Jerusalem are invalid and cannot change that status.
478 addressed the formal annexation of East Jerusalem by the Knesset in 1980 using the Basic Law
(“Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital is Israel”.) The UNSC
censured Israel in the strongest terms, calling it “a violation of
international law.”
The UK voted for all these resolutions: “(Britain’s) longstanding
official position has been to support international law and the body of
UN resolutions respecting the Israeli occupation of Palestine.” The
professors observe that when Trump moved the US embassy, the UK was
swift to join the international community in condemning the move.
Their letter notes that the British government had condemned Putin’s
occupation and annexation of Crimea in March 2021. It quoted Neil Bush
the UK’s OSCE ambassador:
Russia’s actions flagrantly violated its own international commitments including in: Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the Budapest memorandum.
Their actions undermined and continue to undermine the security of us
all. The passage of time will never make them acceptable
And since this February’s invasion the Conservative government, first
under Boris Johnson and now under Truss, has repeatedly stated that the
occupation and annexation by force of sovereign Ukrainian territory is
illegal citing international law. The irony appears lost on Liz Truss.
The full letter to James Cleverly is available here and for those of our members who would like to express their concern the balfourproject.org is a good starting point for how to do so.