On Monday 26th March 2012, Alex Cunningham MP led a debate in the House of Commons addressing humanitarian issues in Jerusalem.  A summary of key points are presented below.  The full debate can be read on Hansard by clicking here.

Alex Cunningham MP opened the debate by quoting a joint report issued by European Representation Offices last year that concluded that “if current trends of settlement growth and home demolitions are not stopped as a matter of urgency, the prospect of East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state becomes increasingly unlikely and unworkable.”

He emphasised the clear and long-standing position of the European Union “that all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and that East Jerusalem is part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and that the annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel is illegal and not recognised by either the UK or the EU”. 

He went on to raise the following points:

• The annexation of East Jerusalem is being reinforced with the Jerusalem municipality openly stating that it does not want the Palestinian population of Jerusalem to exceed 30%. Reducing the population from 38%, where it currently stands before any natural increase, to 30% can be achieved only by resorting to ethnic engineering that would be unthinkable in a liberal democracy and would require illegal and inhumane measures.
• The International Court of Justice has called for sections of the wall built in East Jerusalem to be dismantled, but far from dismantling the wall the Israelis are rapidly extending it.
• Planning rules have been made to ensure that as little land as possible is available for Palestinians to build on. Fewer than 200 building permits are granted each year, even though the EU heads of mission in East Jerusalem assessed that 1,500 housing units are necessary to meet Palestinian housing need.
• Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem are being demolished by the Israeli authorities: they demolished 670 homes between 2000 and 2008, and recently rubber-stamped the decision to demolish homes in Silwan to make way for a tourist park, which alone will make another 1,000 Palestinians homeless.
• The building of illegal Jewish settlements continues unabated, forming an inner and outer ring around Jerusalem. The inner ring, home to around 200,000 settlers, combined with the wall cuts off Jerusalem from the west bank. The outer ring, home to another 100,000 settlers, further isolates the west bank from the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem.
• To ensure that Jerusalem can become the capital of Israel and Israel only, and to try to ensure that it never becomes the shared capital with Palestinians, Israel has used planning laws, home demolitions, settlement building, the wall and insecure residency rights, even as the international community, including the UK, the EU and America, has sat back, talked and done nothing practical to stop Israel.
• He asked why is no one taking action that will result in change?
• 'It was on the record, from both Houses, that the UK has “made representations” month on month, year on year, to the Israelis objecting to increased settlements and home demolitions, making it clear that these actions are unacceptable, are illegal under international law and must stop, but what we are not told is how the Israelis reply, and we are never told of any positive outcome from these conversations.
• Israel is accelerating the pace of settlement expansion, demolitions, expulsions and arrests in a way that makes the two-state solution increasingly unviable. Words are not enough; actions are clearly needed, and it is vital to demonstrate that breaches of international law have consequences, not only in diplomacy, but in the wider area of political and economic agreements.

He called on the Government to:

Take measures that would go a good deal further to end Israel’s intransigence in East Jerusalem and the occupied territories and specifically:

1. Insist on guarantees that products manufactured in Israeli settlements reaching the UK do not benefit from preferential treatment under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
2. Urged the Minister to call publicly on the European Commission to ensure that companies that aid and abet the occupation of East Jerusalem and other occupied territories are barred from benefiting from EU projects, and
3. Urged the Government to ensure that the companies are also barred from public contract tendering processes.

He concluded by stating that ‘it is time to demonstrate that we are not prepared to support or even tolerate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, and that as a nation we in Britain will work to do something about it.’

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Mr Jeremy Browne responded for the Coalition Government. He reiterated that the humanitarian situation in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories was an issue that remained a high priority for both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development. He said the Government shared many of the concerns about Israeli actions in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Simon Danczuk MP intervened and asked the Minister if he agreed that Israel is doing everything it can to prevent the Palestinian people from developing economically?

The Minister said the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Alistair Burt MP, had raised the issue of demolitions with the Israeli ambassador on 23 February, and again with the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Dan Meridor, on 19 March. He said they received a welcome assurance from the Jerusalem municipality that it has no plans to conduct wide-scale demolitions in Silwan in the immediate future.

He went on to state the ineffective positions the Government has towards Israel and mentioned that together with our European Union partners, we continue to press Israel to address these serious concerns about the planning regime in Area C. All of which has produced no action in the interests of peace and justice in the Middle East.

He again said ‘a significant concern for the British Government, this House and the international community is the continued expansion of Israeli settlements, including in East Jerusalem. Settlement activity has no justification and should cease immediately. We have repeatedly given that message to Israel, including at the most senior levels. Again it was the same old result less approach adopted by the Government. 

He did make clear that the Government ‘does not support sanctions on Israel or any attempts to delegitimize Israel, but we do want Israel to honour the undertakings that I think people across the world expect it to honour with regard to settlements.

Alex Cunningham MP intervened to state that ‘if nobody is going to place any sanctions on Israel for what it is doing, what can be done to bring a solution? Talk is getting us nowhere.

Mr Browne responded that ‘we have lobbied the Israelis hard on the issue of movement and access, and there have been some improvements on the west bank, but there is still a long way to go. We continue to believe that the way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including in relation to Jerusalem, is through negotiations.

Mr Slaughter MP intervened to ask about the Government’s failure to support and, therefore, effectively sabotaged in the United Nations Security Council the Palestinian bid for statehood. He asked if the bid goes back to the UN General Assembly in April; will the Government support non-member status?

The Minister responded that ‘we continue to urge both sides to demonstrate the political will and leadership necessary to break the current dangerous impasse and to achieve a sustainable solution to the problems highlighted in this evening’s debate’.