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Britain ‘must save two-state solution’

Petitioners demand action against illegal Israeli settlements

PROSPECTS for a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict will “disappear” without British action against illegal Israeli settlements, Labour MP Richard Burden said yesterday.

The chair of Parliament’s all-party group on Palestine issued the warning as he joined campaigners to hand in a 20,000-name petition calling for sanctions against Israel.

“The two-state solution that governments of all persuasion have said they support is disappearing in front of our eyes,” he told the Star.

There are now more than half a million Israelis living in around 100 settlements around the West Bank in Palestine.

They are illegal under international law, a fact acknowledged by most governments around the world, including Britain’s.

But despite MPs voting in October in favour of British recognition of Palestine, the Tories have failed to take practical action to stop further Israeli land grabs.

“The extension of settlements means the window for the two-state solution, if it’s not already closed — and it might be — is very close to being closed,” Mr Burden added.

“If the government wants to keep the two-state solution alive, and just uphold the basic human rights it would adopt in any other part of the world, it needs to say to Israel that consequences will follow.”

The Labour MP handed in the petition alongside Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) officials and Palestinian Mission to Britain second secretary Haya al-Farra.

Film director Ken Loach, actor Maxine Peake and musician Brian Eno are among the well-known signatories.

The petition calls on Prime Minister David Cameron to push for European-level sanctions against Israel if it does not stop illegal settlement.

Proposals include an arms blockade, boycott of Israeli products and the suspension of the EU-Israeli trade deal, which is worth £29 billion.

PCS chairman Hugh Lanning said that the measures were necessary because the Israeli government “has no commitment to international law or any kind of ‘peace process’.”

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu visited an illegal settlement during his recent re-election campaign.

A Foreign Office spokesman told the Star that illegal settlements were an “obstacle to peace and take us further away from a two-state solution.”

But he added: “The UK is firmly opposed to anti-Israeli sanctions and boycotts.”

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