News
MPs say Israeli settlement expansion is obstacle to peace
Palestinian violence and incitement also a cited as barriers, in House of Commons backbench debate
February 9, 2017 18:11
Palestinian violence and incitement also a cited as barriers, in House of Commons backbench debate
February 9, 2017 18:11MPs have debated a motion calling for an immediate halt to the building of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The motion, proposed by backbenchers including Conservative Sir Desmond Swayne, accused settlement expansion of undermining the “viability of the state of Palestine”.
Leading the debate, Sir Desmond said hopes for a two-state solution to the conflict were “in serious jeopardy” because of the Israeli government’s policy.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the planning and construction of 2,500 new settlement homes.
Earlier this week, the Knesset voted to legalise retroactively thousands of Jewish homes on Palestinian land on the West Bank.
Tobias Ellwood, the Middle East Minister, expressed concern that the concept of a Palestinian state was being "eroded" by settlements.
But he said Palestinian incitement and violence were also obstacles to peace.
He reiterated the government’s view that the "only way to lasting peace" was a two-state solution.
Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said she feared the prospects of such a solution were “moving away from us”, adding that the settlements were a “road-block” to peace.
But she stressed that the conflict could not be reduced to the settlement issue alone and called on both sides to end the violence.
She also expressed "deep disappointment" that the government has not recognised a Palestinian state.
But Mr Ellwood responded that the Palestinians had to do more in combating violence and incitement before that could happen.
He noted that Palestinians schools and squares in towns and cities were still being named after terrorists. “These are not the confidence-building steps we need to see,” he said
Labour MP Naz Shah condemned the legalisation law and accused Israel of legislating in land that "is not under their rule".
Ian Austin, also Labour, said the motion was one-sided. The Palestinian Authority encouraged terrorism by paying salaries to convicted terrorists, he said.
Joan Ryan, chair of Labour Friends of Israel, agreed that settlement-building threatened “the viability of a future Palestinian state, the case for which is unarguable".
But she added that settlements were not the "principle" obstacle to an end to the conflict.
The biggest problem was a lack of trust on both sides, she believed,adding that trust was eroded by an "unrelenting stream of antisemitic incitement" on the Palestinian side.
Other speakers in the debate included Labour’s Richard Burden, and Tory MPs Mike Freer and Crispin Blunt, the chair of the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee.
