Foreign secretary condemns Israeli ‘culture of impunity for those engaged in violence’ in West Bank
The actions of the Israeli government have come under vast criticism from MPs and ministers in the House of Commons this morning.
Of the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the foreign secretary told MPs: “I condemn categorically the development of settlements which are illegal under international law.
“Settlements do not offer security to Israel or to Palestinians, and I also condemn calls to annex the West Bank which would lead only to violence and jeopardise prospects for a Palestinian state.”
Tory MP Kit Malthouse called for sanctions from the UK government because “those settlements are sponsored by the Israeli state”.
David Lammy replied: “He will know that I announced sanctions back in October and continue to keep these issues under review.
“The culture of impunity for those engaged in violence is intolerable.”
He later said in response to a Liberal Democrat MP that “settlement goods do not benefit from any free trade arrangements that we have with Israel”.
More broadly on Israel’s resumption of the war in Gaza and anti-terror operations in the West Bank that have seen civilians killed, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer said: “We regret that at this point we are still in disagreement with the Israeli government, and we regret the scenes in the last few weeks, both in relation to the West Bank and Gaza.”
He added later: “The scenes in Gaza, both in relation to aid workers and of course, Gazan civilians themselves are absolutely horrific.
“It was why, with France, we called a special session of the UN Security Council on Friday, and we will continue to press with all diplomatic levers.”
The minister also called on Israel to “quickly and thoroughly conclude” its investigation into an air strike which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British citizens, in Gaza a year ago.
Israel’s UK embassy has been contacted for a response.