Palestinians praise Johnson for saving them from annexation

PALESTINIAN leaders have been hugely impressed by Boris Johnson’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and believe he has the potential to bring both sides back to the table for fresh peace talks.

Dr Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinians’ diplomatic mission to the UK, told The Sunday Telegraph that the prime minister’s intervention against Israeli annexation last month played a key role in the controversial plans being postponed. Israel’s announcement that it would annex up to 30 per cent of the West Bank, as part of Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East, shocked Europe and the Arab world.

But in early July, Mr Johnson wrote a column in an Israeli newspaper urging the Jewish state to abandon annexation on the grounds that it would be a major breach of international law.

“As a lifelong friend, admirer and supporter of Israel, I am fearful that these proposals will fail in their objective of securing Israel’s borders and will be contrary to Israel’s own longterm interests,” the prime minister wrote in a column for the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Shortly after Mr Johnson’s intervention, as well as similar warnings from EU leaders and Jordan, Israel temporarily shelved the plan – to the great relief of Palestinians.

Dr Zomlot said: “Prime Minister Johnson was one of the most active in Europe and worldwide in saying to Israel: do not do this. All the way to writing an article, telling them we love you so much, but don’t disfigure that experience.”

He said Mr Johnson had sent a message that “the world is not Trump”, and showed that world leaders would not subject Palestinians to the “rule of the jungle” by allowing annexation to go ahead.

“The UK Prime Minister was doing that not for the love of the Palestinians or the love of Israelis, but because the UK establishment knew that this translates to chaos,” he said.

When asked what role Mr Johnson could play in helping to resolve the world’s oldest conflict, Dr Zomlot called on the Prime Minister to bring together Israel, the Palestinians and European leaders to reinvigorate the stagnant peace process. “Lead an international peace conference, bring everybody you can. Bring all of us around the table and apply the international framework, and give guarantees... of a multilateral peacemaking mechanism led by the UK and other key countries that will deliver a hope for a solution and an actual implementation of a solution,” he said.

Mr Johnson was also urged to recognise Palestine as a state and ban imports of products made in Israeli settlements, such as wine and herbs.