Dear friends, This week I will be traveling to the UK as a vote is set to take place tomorrow in the British Parliament on recognizing Palestine. As a hotspot in the ongoing war of words and images waged against Israel, I will be in London and in Parliament holding several meetings and briefings on this issue and related ones. Attached is the press release put out by BICOM, which will be hosting me for a briefing on Monday morning in the wake of the vote: Backbench Members of Parliament have called for a House of Commons debate on Israel and Palestine scheduled for Monday 13th October. This has raised serious concerns that it threatens to end two decades of cross party consensus on the Middle East Peace Process. The British government foreign policy towards the peace talks has been based upon supporting the political and legal framework of the Oslo Accords for a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. BICOM is hosting Dr. Einat Wilf, who is in London next week; she is a former Member of the Israeli Knesset and advisor to the former Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ehud Barak. She is more than qualified to discuss the dangers of Palestinian Unilateral Declaration of Independence and Israels security concerns post the conflict in Gaza. Talking about the Israel - Palestinian Debate She says I believe that most of those who support recognising a Palestinian state have good intentions and hope to promote the two state solution in this manner but unless they simultaneously declare that as a major donor country to UNRWA, Britain recognises that there cannot be at once a State of Palestine and “refugees from Palestine” living in that state, it would only mean that those voting for the motion support the Palestinian dream of “Greater Palestine” and the denial of the Jewish right to self-determination in their land. Post the Gaza conflict she says The Gaza war was merely an example of the kind of dangers faced by Israel in the brutal and bloody Middle East that is growing ever more militant, ever more Islamist and completely intolerant of all minorities, be they Jews, Christians, Kurds or all those who support liberal and democratic values. Israel will have to defend itself as an island of stability amidst this storm for decades to come. “ Israel remains committed to direct negotiations with the Palestinian Authority as the only way to achieving peace and resolving the conflict. However to support a unilateral Palestinian State outside of the negotiated framework would do nothing to end decades of hostility, with the potential to intensify the conflict leading to greater violence and regional instability. For more information and to interview Dr. Einat Wilf, who is in London from 13th-18th October, please contact Simon Barrett at BICOM on 0207 636 550 – Email: [email protected]
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 07:35:38 +0000
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