Help us stop this illegal annexation

ISRAEL currently plans to annex large parts of the Palestinian West Bank, with US backing. More than half a million Israeli settlers live in this territory. They will be converted in Israel’s and America’s eyes into legal citizens residing in Israeli territory.

This move will consign to history the possibility of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It shows that the international community will reward acquisition of other people’s land, the killing of their people and the demolition of their homes. This will have repercussions throughout the world.

The Palestinians have called for effective measures to protect them in case of annexation. The wave of Black Lives Matter protests has brought attention to many deep-rooted injustices throughout the world which stem from colonialism and imperialism.

In Britain we should be examining our historical role in many conflict zones. The deepest open wound Britain left in the Middle East is arguably the Palestine-israel conflict.

During its mandated administration of Palestinian territories, Britain made decisions which led directly to the dispossession of the Palestinian people in 1947-48, to make way for Israel’s establishment. This was to the catastrophic detriment of the Palestinian people and their descendants. Yet Britain has never taken any responsibility for this.

Fast-forward 45 years, during which the Palestinians struggled hard to shake off Israel’s brutal occupation which began in 1967. The Oslo Accords (1993) followed the First Intifada (‘Uprising’) which began in 1987 against Israel. Israel should have withdrawn within five years from the Palestinian Territories, leading to the creating of a viable Palestinian State within the 1967 borders by the year 2000.

Instead, Israel increased and strengthened its settlements and further isolated and repressed the Palestinians. International sanctions on Israel at this point could have forced Israel to abide by the Oslo Accords and withdraw as planned.

Please help secure a just and lasting peace by adding your name to the petition to speak out against annexation: https://www.palestinecampaign.org/ speak-out-to-stop-annexation-now/