CAMPAIGNERS have hit out at an event in London which is openly advertising the sale of land in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying it is “unthinkable” that it should be allowed to go ahead.
The Great Israeli Real Estate Event, scheduled to take place in London on Sunday, is promoting the sale of land in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Amnesty International UK has called on the UK Government to take “immediate action” to prevent the event from going ahead, stating it is attempting to normalise illegal settlements by marketing them alongside properties in mainstream Israeli cities.
It comes after some 140 Labour MPs told the UK Government that it must end its “unacceptable” failure to act against Israel war crimes and ban all trade with illegal settlements.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) has launched a Stop Stolen Land Sales campaign in response to the inclusion of illegal settlements in the Great Israeli Real Estate Event.
Jeanine Hourani, a representative of the PYM, said they launched the campaign to “reject the ongoing ethnic cleansing and dispossession” of Palestinians.
She said: “Palestinians and Arabs in the diaspora cannot and will not allow the sale of land to take place in our local communities here in Britain.
“The land that the ‘Great Israeli Real Estate Event’ aims to auction off here in London was stolen from our parents and grandparents.
“We launched this campaign to reject the ongoing ethnic cleansing and dispossession of our people and to insist on our right to return to our homeland.”
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law and have been condemned by the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice.
Amnesty said Israeli settlements form a “central pillar” of what the organisation previously reported as a “documented system of apartheid against the Palestinian people”.
The human rights organisation said the event forms part of a “broader pattern” of international activity promoting settlement investment, at a time when the Israeli government has “dramatically accelerated settlement construction and land annexation across the West Bank”.
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK's crisis response manager, said that given the “significant escalation in speed and scale of annexation measures” under Israel's current government and the rise in state-backed settler violence, it is “unthinkable that the UK government could allow an event to be held in the UK that openly promotes activities encouraging settlement expansion.”
He added: “Israel's unlawful land confiscation, home demolitions, alongside the rapid growth of illegal settlements and outposts on Palestinians' ancestral lands, are devastating Palestinian lives and their protected rights under international law.
“The UK government must ensure they halt all trade, cooperation, and investment relations enabling unlawful occupation and apartheid. It can start by taking strong action against the organisers of this event and ensuring it is not allowed to promote illegal activities on UK soil.
“This isn't a property fair. It's apartheid and annexation with a sales pitch.”
In a joint letter signed by former ministers and all of the Labour chairs of Westminster select committees, the UK Government was told on Monday there is “urgent need for accountability and concrete consequences in response to Israel’s violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are spiralling by the day”.
The letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was co-ordinated by Melanie Ward, the Labour MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy and the former chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
It comes as Israel launches air strikes on Iran despite a so-called ceasefire, closes all entry points into the illegally occupied Gaza region of Palestine, and continues its invasion of Lebanon, including air strikes on the capital of Beirut.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and harm prospects for a two-state solution. The Israeli government must clamp down on settler violence and end settlement expansion.
“We have also imposed sanctions both on those responsible for that violence and on individual members of the Israeli cabinet for inciting it.
“Expansion in the West Bank is wrong. We will be bringing forward updated guidance in the coming days, giving greater clarity to UK businesses on how to avoid ventures which support these illegal settlements.”
