DRAFT NDP Briefing for Palestine Land

30 March 2021 Isabelle Younane, Anisa Mahmood

The question of Palestine

TOP LINES

Annexation and impact of COVID-19

● Israel’s de facto annexation of large parts of the West Bank are illegal under international law. Labour must call on the UK Government to use its permanent position on the UN Security Council and historic role in Israeli-Palestinian affairs to turn statements into diplomatic interventions. ● With international attention focused elsewhere in 2020 - notably on the Covid-19 outbreak, confict in Syria and Yemen, and the fall-out from Brexit - the Netanyahu administration ramped up its annexation policy with impunity. The number of demolitions in 2020 by Israeli authorities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) reached their highest number in over four years. ● Increased UK funding to the UN’s Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) is welcome, in light of the Trump administration’s cut to funding. However, Labour must keep the pressure up, especially given drastic aid cuts made by the UK Government, which are expected to fall disproportionately on confict-affected states. ● There have been 182,000 record cases and 2,656 deaths in the OPT. However, as cases of COVID-19 are underreported and due to a lack of testing, the UN estimates the true fgure may be ten times higher. ● Only several thousand of 4.7 million Palestinians have been vaccinated, in contrast to 4.2 million Israelis. As the occupying power, the UN has determined that Israel has an international obligation to include the Palestinians in Israel’s programme or provide an alternative vaccine rollout. Labour must urge the Government to call on Israel to provide vaccinations for Palestinians. ● Labour opposes the continued land, sea and air blockade of Gaza and should encourage the Government to make representations to Israeli ofcials and ask them to lift the blockade. ● Palestinian elections are on track to take place on 22 May 2021 - for the frst time in 15 years. The UK, US and the EU, have a key role to play to ensure that this election takes place peacefully and that the outcome is respected by Israel and the international community. Agreements between Israel and Arab states

● On 13 August 2020, an agreement was announced between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalise relations between the two countries. As part of this, Israel agreed to suspend their proposals to annex large parts of the West Bank. On 11 September 2020, it was announced that Bahrain and Israel had agreed to fully normalise their relations. These were followed by Israel reaching similar agreements with Sudan in October 2020 and Morocco in December 2020. ● These agreements present a good opportunity to address the issue of Palestine with a new determination. Labour must urge the UK Government that this can only be achieved through a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state. ● The confict between Israel and the Palestinians can only be solved through negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians and Labour must help facilitate that process when in Government. The election of US President Joe Biden provides the possibility of real movement towards negotiation and a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.

BACKGROUND For the last fve decades, Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian terriroties - namely the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip - has resulted in systematic human rights violations against Palestinian citizens. Numerous United Nations resolutions hold that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are a violation of international law, including UN Security Council resolutions in 1979, 1980 and 2016.

Since 1967, Israel has built about 140 settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as 121 outposts (settlements built without the government's authorisation). They have become home to some 600,000 Israeli Jews. Settlements are considered illegal by most of the international community, though Israel disputes this. Palestinians - whose everyday lives are disrupted by Israeli military rule - say all settlements must be removed for a Palestinian state to be viable. The occupation affects whether, when and how Palestinians can undertake basic activities like travelling to work or school, going abroad, visiting friends or relatives, earning a living, accessing their own farmland, and accessing electricity or a clean water supply. It is a lifestyle that results in humiliation, hopelessness, fear and oppression. Israel has also adopted a complex web of military laws to crush dissent against its policies1.

Impact of COVID-19 The protracted confict returned to the UK news agenda over recent months, with Israel’s successful vaccine roll-out overshadowed by the revelation that Netanyahu’s Government had made the decision to not vaccinate the more than 4.5 million Palestinian citizens in Gaza and the West Bank, leaving this responsibility to the OPT’s under-resourced healthcare system under the

1Amnesty International, Israel’s Occupation: 50 Years of Dispossession, June 2017 disputed leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Only several thousand Palestinians have been vaccinated in contrast to the 4.2 million Israelis.

This decision by Israel has prompted debate about Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international law, which states clearly that it has a duty to ensure medical supplies, including to combat the spread of pandemics2. While Israel has since agreed to transfer 5,000 Moderna vaccine doses to Palestinian medical workers in the West Bank following international pressure - and is also vaccinating up to 100,000 Palestinian workers in Israel - it has also been accused by Palestinians of blocking its transfer to frontline workers in Hamas-controlled Gaza3.

There have been 182,000 recorded Covid-19 cases and 2,656 deaths in the OPT. However, given the signifcant health challenges and inequalities facing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, coupled with a lack of testing, difculties for proper social distancing, and shortages of medical resources, the true spread of COVID19 is going underreported and the virus is going unchallenged. The UN estimates the true fgure may be ten times higher.

The denial of vaccines to Palestinians by Israel emerged just weeks before the commemoration of Land Day (30 March 1976), which is celebrated by Palestinians as the frst time since 1948 that Arabs in Israel organised a collective response to Israeli policies. In March 1976, in response to the Israeli Government's announcement of a plan to expropriate land for state purposes, marches were organised in Arab towns from the Galilee to the Negev. The protests resulted in confrontations with the Israeli army and police, who killed six unarmed Arab citizens, injured one hundred and arrested hundreds of others.

With international attention focused elsewhere in 2020 - notably on the Covid-19 outbreak, confict in Syria and Yemen, and the fall-out from Brexit - the Netanyahu administration has been able to ramp up its annexation policy with impunity. The number of demolitions in 2020 by Israeli authorities in the OPT reached their highest number in over four years. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, 1,282 people have been displaced and over 1,000 structures have been destroyed. Demolitions undermine humanitarian aid and all efforts to protect vulnerable Palestinian communities during the height of a pandemic, particularly as many demolished structures were funded by international aid including from the UK. As well as calling for an end to demolitions, Labour has called for the UK Government to seek reparations from Israeli authorities for damaged or confscated aid-funded structures, which include water stations and health infrastructure, vital to protecting health and tackling COVID19.

Economically speaking, the Palestinian territories are in deep decline, with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (combined) grappling with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world4. The

2Human Rights Watch, Israel: Provide Vaccines to Occupied Palestinians, Press Release, 18 January 2021 3Guardian, Israel blocked Covid vaccines from entering Gaza, say Palestinians, News Article, 16 February 2021 4UNCTAD, Occupied Palestinian Territory Has World’s Highest Unemployment Rate – UNCTAD Report, Press Release, 12 September 2018 impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has compounded existing economic challenges, with over a third of Palestine’s population living in poverty. In Hamas-controlled Gaza, conditions are worse; 80% of its population depends on precarious humanitarian assistance (see below), suffering from food insecurity, lack of hygiene resources, poor healthcare, intermittent electricity and unsafe drinking water. COVID-19 is worsening economic conditions and increasing pressure on an already ill-equipped healthcare system in Gaza. Women in the Palestinian territories are disproportionately affected, with parents more reluctant to send girls to school during periods of fnancial difculty or during security crises - and with unemployment excessively falling on women.5

Organisations such as the British Council do signifcant work in promoting education, school reform and English skills for Palestinians, to instil hope in the OPT’s young population, and to support an overburdened and under-funded education system6. However, the OPT demographic means that this is an uphill struggle. The population is set to balloon from two million to three million by 2030 and to four million by 2040. Jobs are rare and many young Palestinians do not have the skills, including English, required for the local or international market. 95% of Gaza’s young population have never left the strip.

Recent developments

2020 saw a continuation - and in some ways an escalation - of the tensions, security concerns and repressive policies that have hampered peace since 1948. On 28 May, 2020, President Netanyahu said he was committed to annexing parts of the West Bank in July based on the conceptual map released by US President Donald Trump's administration. However, the annexation plan was later pushed back. For the 13th consecutive year, the Israeli Government also enforced a generalized travel ban on Palestinians in Gaza. These restrictions are not based on an individual assessment of security risk, and mean that the vast majority of the two million Palestinians living in Gaza are denied the right to freedom of movement. Israel, rightly concerned for the safety of its citizens as a result of rocket fre from Hamas-controlled Gaza, has a blanket policy of blockading the territory and assuming distrust of citizens living in the region.

On 13 August 2020, an agreement was announced between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalise relations between the two countries. As part of this agreement, Israel agreed to suspend their proposals to annex large parts of the West Bank. On 11 September 2020, it was announced that Bahrain and Israel had agreed to fully normalise their relations. These agreements were followed by Israel reaching an agreement with Sudan in October 2020 and Morocco in December 2020 to normalise relations with these two countries.

Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that Palestinian elections will take place for the frst time in 15 years. The elections will consist of elections for the Palestinian Legislative

5 UNCTAD, COVID-19 devastates Palestine’s shattered economy, Press Release, 8 September 2020 6 British Council OPT, Our work in education, Webpage Council (to be held on 22 May 2021), for the President of the Palestinian National Authority (on 31 July) and the Palestinian National Council of the PLO (on 31 August 2021).

The announcement has been welcomed by the UN, the EU, as well as Hamas and a number of other countries. It is, as yet, unclear whether Arab residents of Jerusalem will be permitted to vote in the election. President Abbas and other Palestinian ofcials have, in the past, said there would be no elections without the participation of Arab residents of Jerusalem.

The UK, along with the EU and the US, have a critical role to play in ensuring the electoral process succeeds. In doing so, they can improve prospects for a sustainable peace agreement with Israel. It can do this by applying pressure on Israel to support free and fair elections which are inclusive of the Arab residents of Jerusalem, and should set an example to Israel and the international community by respecting the outcome of the elections and pursuing a constructive relationship with the new Palestinian government.

Whilst Israel has signed agreements with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, the issue of Palestine must be addressed with a new determination. This can only be achieved through a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state.

UK Government’s approach to Israel and Palestine

The UK Government’s response to recent developments in Israel and Palestine has been consistent with Conservative Party responses in the past, insisting on the need for a two-state solution that would enable citizens in Israel and Palestine to live in peace, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.

The UK Government has consistently criticised the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank, including the recent annexation plan, and has called for Palestinians to be permitted to have free and fair elections, which have not happened since 2006. The UK also recognises Israel’s security concerns, criticising the murder of Israeli citizens by Palestinian extremists and condeming rocket fre by militant groups into Israel. The UK has however fallen short of recognising an independent Palestinian state, and has not been vocally criticial about the disruptive policies adopted by President Trump.

At a UN Security Council briefng on 29 September 2020, the UK representative said: “whilst the threat of annexation appears to have receded, the UK remains concerned by a number of negative trends on the ground. We reiterate our call on both sides to halt any activity that makes peace more difcult to achieve. In accordance with resolution 2334, this includes terrorism, incitement, violence against civilians, demolition of Palestinian property and settlement advancements.” With regard to the situation in Gaza, the Minister for the Middle East has said: “The UK remains deeply concerned about the restrictions on movement and access that affect Gaza. The restrictions impact infrastructure development, the delivery of vital humanitarian services and limit the professional development of health and humanitarian workers.” The increase in funding from the UK Government to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is welcome, in light of the previous Trump Administration’s cut to funding, which supports co-existence as well as healthcare and education programmes which serve as stabilising force and play an important role in strengthen cooperation and co-existence between the Israelis and Palestinians. However, Labour must keep the pressure up, in light of drastic aid cuts made by the UK Government, which are likely to fall disproportionately on confict-affected states.7

There are a number of elements that complicate the UK’s ability to be a broker for peace in the Middle East. One important factor is its signifcant arms trade with Israel, amounting to £361 million between 2014 and 2018 (see policy recommendations below), and its cooperation with Israel on defence. In 2020, for example, UK Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan said he was “delighted” to announce that a new partnership had been signed between Israel and the UK, intended to deepen the two countries’ “military cooperation”. It is thought that the partnership is being driven by the UK’s desire to transition to a more digitally-equipped military, potentially benefting from Israeli-designed platforms8.

Obstacles to peace

Obstacles to achieving peace between Israel and Palestine are extremely complex, but can be broadly categorised as follows:

1. Internal political divisions in Palestine

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is the national representative of the Palestinian people. It runs the Palestinian National Authority (PA), the semi-autonomous government tasked with managing the Palestinian territories until it makes a deal with Israel. Fatah, the secular nationalist political party that’s dominated Palestinian politics for decades, controls the PLO and PA.

In practice, the PLO runs the government in the West Bank but not in Gaza, which is governed by militant group Hamas. It also conducts peace talks on behalf of the Palestinians, but its authority to implement those deals has in the past been hampered by poor relations with Hamas, which has waged war on Israel since the group’s 1987 founding, most notably through suicide bombings and rocket attacks, to achieve its goal of replacing Israel with a Palestinian state. Hamas’s charter long called for the destruction of Israel. It was revised in 2017 to allow for acceptance of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rather than the entire territory, though Hamas still refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli state. Unity talks between Hamas and the PLO have broken down repeatedly, which means there’s no unifed Palestinian authority, complicating peace talks.

7OpenDemocracy, UK government accused of ‘grotesque betrayal’ as full foreign aid cuts revealed, News Article, 5 March 2021 8 Jewish Times, UK and Israel sign agreement on military cooperation, 7 December 2020 Increasing numbers of Palestinians are said to be talking of a one-state solution with equal rights. They are focused more on achieving dignity and leading fulflling lives than the ‘model’. The PA acknowledges its electoral mandate has expired and elections are scheduled for May 2021. The participation of all Arab residents - including in East Jerusalem - will be crucial for the legitimacy of these elections and for any future pathway to peace. If Palestinian elections are held in only one part of the OPT, the winning party may only be described as a representative of some Palestinians, not all Palestinians, reinforcing existing divisions.

2. International divisions about the confict

Israel has fought multiple wars with each of its four neighbours, all of whom nominally support the Palestinian national cause. Today, it has peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but its relations with its other neighbours, Syria and Lebanon, are fraught. There are large, mistreated Palestinian refugee communities in all of Israel’s neighbours but Egypt. Outside of its immediate neighbours, the three most important regional states in the confict are Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

The Syrian government is still quite hostile to Israel. Syria is aligned with Iran, Israel’s greatest adversary in the region today. Syria also wants the Golan Heights, militarily useful land Israel seized during their 1967 war, back. Lebanon is home to Hezbollah, a virulently anti-Israel Shia Islamist group funded by Iran. Hezbollah is a major force in Lebanese politics, so Lebanon is unlikely to play any role in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the near term. Israel treats Lebanon as an enemy state because of Hezbollah, and there are very negative public perceptions of Israel among Lebanese people. Israeli citizens (or anyone who has an Israeli stamp on their passport are strictly prohibited from entry into Lebanon. Jordan both has a peace treaty with Israel and houses the largest concentration of Palestinians refugees. It’s also the one of Israel’s neighbours where Palestinians have full citizenship rights. Despite this, many refugees are shoved into crowded camps and generally poorly treated, which is why Palestinians are sceptical of their neighbours’ claim to support the Palestinian cause. Iran believes Israel is fundamentally illegitimate and supports the most hard-line anti-Israeli Arab factions.

Turkey has become increasingly pro-Palestinian in recent years, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan positioning himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause for ideological, domestic, and geopolitical reasons. Though Saudi Arabia has yet to recognize Israel, the two nations’ mutual hostility toward Iran has led to an unprecedented working relationship between the Saudi and Israeli governments.

3. Issue of Jerusalem

Jerusalem straddles the border between Israel and the West Bank. It’s home to some of the holiest sites in both Judaism and Islam, and so both Israel and Palestine want to make it their capital. UN Security Council Resolution 478 condemns Israel’s decision to annex East Jerusalem as a violation of international law and calls for a compromise solution. How to split the city fairly remains one of the fundamental issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians — and in December 2018, President Donald Trump weighed in on Israel’s side. He recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and began the process of moving the embassy, but still allows for negotiations over what parts of the city would be permanently Israeli and what parts would be given to Palestine in the event of a peace agreement.

4. American backing of Israel

The US has given Israel $118 billion in aid over the years (about $3 billion per year nowadays). Half of all American UN Security Council vetoes blocked resolutions critical of Israel. The stark difference between Obama and Trump approaches to Netanyahu refects a growing partisan gap inside the United States, with Republicans taking an increasingly hard-line “pro-Israel” position. If Democrats under President Biden end up more willing to criticize the Israeli government, Israel may well end up a partisan issue in America — which actually would threaten the foundations of the US-Israel alliance.

5. Failure of a peace process

Sometimes called “Oslo” after the 1993 Oslo Accords that kicked it off, the peace process is an ongoing American-mediated effort to broker a peace treaty between Israelis and Palestinians. The goal is a “fnal status agreement,” which would establish a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank in exchange for Palestinians agreeing to permanently end attacks on Israeli targets — a formula often called “land for peace.” The Bush administration pushed its own update on Oslo, called the “road map,” and Obama made the peace process a signifcant foreign policy priority. The Trump administration has not formally abandoned this formula, but has yet to take any signifcant actions to advance it. Any successful peace initiative would need to resolve the four core issues that have plagued the peace process: West Bank borders/settlements, Israeli security, Palestinian refugees, and Jerusalem. So far there’s been little success, and there are four major hurdles to any agreement. It is also not clear how to get talks started. The current right-wing Israeli government is sceptical of concessions to the Palestinians, this is not helped by the long tenure of Benjamin Netanyahu (who has been in ofce for 15 years) who as prime minister is personally resistant to restarting peace talks. Israel’s proportional electoral system increasingly forces moderate parties to enter into coalition with smaller right wing parties that are opposed to any discussion of peace. The Palestinians, having essentially decided that Israel isn’t serious about peace, have launched a campaign for statehood aimed at pressuring Israel into peace — which might well backfre by convincing Israelis the Palestinians are done with the US-led peace process. There is also increased support among Palestinians for a one-state solution, which would essentially enable Palestinians to live on equal terms as Israelis in the State of Israel.

6. Israel’s disregard for international law

The IDF have used disproportionate levels of force in response to the GMR; i.e. use of live fre. The common Israeli narrative about the GMR has become one of highlighting Hamas’ supposed manipulation of people’s protest, rather than questioning the Israeli response of shooting protesters. The applicable legal framework in the Gaza protests is a law enforcement one under the UN Basic Principles of the Use of Force and Firearms. Israeli settlements in the OPT are also widely considered to be illegal. Most international lawyers believe settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of population into occupied territories. Israel’s government disputes that.

7. Lack of political/public interest

Regional challenges, such as ongoing conficts in Syria and Yemen, the high youth unemployment rates across MENA, and the increasing tensions and rivalry among the Gulf States, mean the situation in Palestine is not a top priority among the international community. Europe is preoccupied with the rise of populism and Brexit, and now also the Covid-19 pandemic, while the US and China are locked in a trade war that’s creating further economic uncertainty.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Labour’s criticism of Israeli policies should point to the absence of the Israeli-Palestinian confict in the recent Integrated Review, and highlight the UK Government’s strategic and commercial relationship with Israel, which raises questions about its ability to be a neutral broker for peace between Israel and Palestine. Its longstanding trade relationship includes trade in arms, which has been criticised by international NGOs for exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Between 2014 and 2018, the UK issued Single Individual Export Licenses (SIELs) for arms sales to Israel to a value of £361 million, compared to just £74 million from 2008 to 2014.9 Labour should call out the Government’s decision to prioritise commercial interests over helping to secure lasting peace in the region, and also point out the stark contradiction of sending weapons to Israel while also contributing around £45 million to UNRWA annually to ‘pick up the pieces’.

While the UK’s contribution to UNRWA has been steadily increasing over the past three years (£38m in 2017; £45m in 2018; and £48m in 2019), Labour should highlight that this contribution is only treating the symptoms of illegal Israeli occupation and failing to hold Israel to account for the injustice perpetrated in the OPT. This aid contribution is also at risk of steep decline in light of drastic cuts to the ODA budget, which are rumoured to be disproportionately affecting confict-affected states in the Middle East and Africa (Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Libya and South Sudan) according to FCDO documents leaked to OpenDemocracy10. Not only would this have a direct impact on lives and livelihoods in the OPT, but it would weaken the UK’s position in the region at a time that US President Biden is likely to take a more prominent role in restarting the peace process.

Labour should hold the Government to account for its commitment in the Integrated Review to support open, democratic societies by urging it to apply pressure on Israel to allow the forthcoming Palestinians elections to take place in all of the occupied territories, including East

9 Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Israel, Webpage 10Ibid Jerusalem. Labour should urge the UK to take an active role in ensuring that Israel facilitates a free and fair process by putting no pressure on intended candidates or by impeding voters or international observers, and ensuring that Israel allows the newly elected government to govern in accordance with the Palestinian constitution. Labour should also call on the government to set an example to the international community (EU in particular) and to Israel by fully respecting the outcome of these elections, regardless of which party wins power.

The Labour party must toe a careful line in its criticism of Israel, ensuring that it does not wade into arguments around Israel’s right to self-determination and an Israeli state, but focuses instead on taking a strong stance against what has been widely condemned as ‘apartheid-style’ discrimination against Palestinian citizens, which includes a system of checkpoints, walls and surveillance that controls Palestinians’ everyday lives, demolition of homes and schools, expansion of illegal settlements, and imprisonment and abuse of large numbers of Palestinians, including children11. While Labour should recognise Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket fre from Gaza, it should also point to Israel disproportionate use of force as a breach of international humanitarian law, and the fact that while Israel has a well (US-) funded military and defence system, Palestine is not permitted to have an army, meaning that the two sides are fghting on vastly unequal terms.

Labour should, as a government-in-waiting, consider recognising the existence of the State of Palestine, as a frst and important step towards remedying the decades of injustice that have been suffered by Palestinian citizens as a result of the illegal occupation, and demonstrating the Party’s seriousness about the UK, under Labour, playing a key role in moving towards a two-state solution.

Labour should also recognise the election of US President Biden as an opportunity for the UK and US to build an alliance to restart the peace process and to reverse President Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.The confict between Israel and the Palestinians can only be solved through negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians and Labour must help facilitate that process. The election of US President Joe Biden provides the possibility of real movement towards negotiation and a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. Labour should support any future American initiatives which will promote peace.

Labour must encourage the UK Government to do all it can to support the creation of a new climate in Israel and Palestine, so that people are able to move towards a process of peace. It is therefore disappointing that previous UK funding for coexistence projects has now come to an end. The lessons from the Northern Ireland peace process show that it will only be when Palestinians and Israelis have an ongoing dialogue, when they live and work together and engage in reconciliation can there be a frm basis for a permanent peace.

11 Human Rights Watch, Israel: Security Forces Abuse Palestinian Children, Press Release, 19 July 2015 Suggested supplementary questions

What assessment has the Minister made about the impact the current political uncertainty caused by the recent general election in Israel will have on the prospects for a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians?

In light of this government’s commitment to support open and democratic societies in the recent Integrated Review, can the Minister confrm that the UK Government will set an example to the international community and to Israel by fully respecting the outcome of the upcoming Palestinian elections, regardless of which party wins power?

Does the Minister share my hope that in light of the elections in Israel, the new Government will ensure that the proposals for annexation of parts of the West Bank are fully withdrawn at the frst opportunity?

Will the Minister give his full and unequivocal support to the International Fund for Israeli Palestinian Peace as an important initiative to achieve a peaceful settlement based on a two-state solution?

Does the Minister agree that coexistence projects involving Palestinians and Israelis can make an important contribution to laying the groundwork to enable a peaceful settlement based on a two-state solution?

What diplomatic representations is the Government making to ensure that progress is made towards establishing fresh negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians?

At a time of heightened tension between Israelis and Palestinians because of ongoing illegal demolitions, the ongoing blockade of Gaza and human rights violations at the hands of Israeli military forces UNRWA provides an important role in building resilience, providing vital health and educational programming, and strengthening co-operation between Israelis and Palestinians. Given this vital role, can the Minister guarantee the UK’s funding commitment to UNRWA work will not be included in this government’s unjust cut to the UK aid budget?

What discussions has the Minister had with his Israeli and international counterparts to guarantee the safe and unobstructed delivery of vaccines into Gaza and the West Bank and what pressure is the UK Government applying on Israel to ensure they meet their international obligations to provide a vaccine to the occupied Palestinians people?

What discussions is the Minister having with his Israeli counterparts to seek reparations for destroyed or confscated UK aid-funded structures in the West Bank, particularly those most recently destroyed in the community of Humsa al-Bqai’a? The authors: Isabelle Younane is an Executive Committee member of the New Diplomacy Project. She is an advocacy specialist, currently leading ActionAid UK’s infuencing strategies on trade and UK aid spending. She holds a Masters degree in human rights from University College London, and has held previous roles at the British Council and the United Nations Association - UK (UNA-UK).

Anisa Mahmood is a Labour parliamentary researcher with expertise in human rights, foreign policy, and race and discrimination. She has worked on the Counter Extremism and Security Bill and organised human rights campaigns and is the Chief Communications Ofcer of the Equality Act Review Campaign.

Reviewers: (The views set out in this briefng do not refect the views of the Reviewers or their organisations)

Sir Jeremy Greenstock GCMG, Chairman, Gatehouse Advisory Partners Ltd.; former UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations; former UK Special Envoy for Iraq

This paper was also reviewed by two experts on Israel-Palestine affairs who wish to remain anonymous.

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