Written evidence from Mrs Marjorie Mansfield (MEP0050)
Honourable Members,
Thank you for giving the public the opportunity of submitting responses to this wide ranging review of British foreign policy in the Middle East, with special emphasis on Israel.
The UK's complicity in the colonisation of Palestine by the zionist movement, the planned expulsion of the indigenous Palestinian people to be replaced by incoming European Jewish immigrants should be acknowledged.
In this anniversary year of the Balfour Declaration, with it's casual racist dismissal of the unnamed inhabitants, and the subsequent failure to ensure their rights, an apology is called for, not the craven celebration our Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary desire.
Zionism has always meant mass expulsions of the indigenous Palestinian people, as evidenced by the earliest words of Herzl at the end of the 19th century, by Jabotinsky in The Iron Wall in 1923, and by David Ben Gurion in 1948,
"What is necessary is cruel and strong reactions. We need precision in time, place, and casualties. If we know the family, we must strike mercilessly, women and children included. Otherwise, the reaction is inefficient. At the place of action, there is no need to distinguish between guilty and innocent."
~ David Ben-Gurion, 1 January 1948
One can see from the population figures provided by The Virtual Jewish Library how the tiny minority of Jews in Palestine grew exponentially, with the tragedy of The Nakba, the 'reaction' Gurion talks about above, the planned removal of over 80% of the Palestinian people between 1946 and 1948.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-and-non-jewish-population-of-israel-palestine-1517-present
The UN Partition Plan of 1947 unfairly recommended that the by then 34% minority who were Jewish, owning only 7% of the land, should be allocated 55% of historical Palestine. Britain should have opposed this then; they should most definitely opposed it when the newly formed regime militarily took 78%,, leaving only 22% for the original inhabitants.
Instead, Britain has allowed Israel to militarily occupy this sliver of land for the last 50 years, Britain has continued to call Israel an ally and a friend whilst Israel has stolen more and more Palestinian lands and resources, whilst Israel has continued to break many International Laws and Conventions, subsidising illegal, often violent so called settlers onto Palestinian lands.
There is no longer any contiguous territories to allow the time-wasting mirage of a two-state solution. It is now internationally acknowledged that Israel is an apartheid regime, as detailed in the recent report written for the UN.
'The report calls on States, Governments and institutions to support boycott, divestment and sanctions initiatives and other activities aimed at ending the Israeli regime of apartheid.' "
I ask that our government acknowledges these realities.
Israel is committing war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Apartheid exists both in Israel 'proper' and the lands they occupy. In Israel, there have been several hundred new municipalities built for Jewish Israeli citizens since 1948, but none for the Arab Israeli citizens, who make up 20% of the population. In fact, the figure should be a negative for the Palestinian citizens, given the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages in 1948, and ongoing in the Negev, East Jerusalem and elsewhere.
UK institutions are guilty of allowing trading with the illegal settlements, therefore, our much vaunted City is complicit in aiding and abetting war crimes.
I have come across more and more British people at a complete loss as to why the British government supports the crimes of zionist Israel. Why David Cameron stood by Israel when it unilaterally bombed a trapped civilian population in Gaza for 51 days in 2014, why Theresa May gives glowing speeches full of praise for a democracy that is not a democracy to a large part of the people they control, that murders with impunity, that imprisons children.
Have our honourable Members read the report by the truly Honourable MP Sarah Champion on visiting one of Israel’s military courts trying children in the Occupied West Bank. I commend this to you.
"As the children were led out, I just sat there, staring ahead, simply trying to process what I had seen.
What on earth is going on in this country, and how is the world just letting it happen?
UK MP Sarah Champion
https://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2017/03/10/uk-mp-stunned-by-israels-military-trials-of-children/
The government of the UK should not be using Brexit to build new stronger trading partnerships with such an inhumane apartheid regime. The UK government would be acting against the majority views of the UK public in supporting Israel, instead of subjecting Israel to the strongest possible sanctions.
I ask our government to acknowledge that there can be no peace without justice.
I ask our government to push for freedom, equality and human rights for all people in historical Palestine.
I ask our government to insist that Israel abides by all international laws and UN resolutions with regards to the rights of the Palestinian people, or to face full meaningful sanctions.
Many thanks.