The Howells-Blunt Correspondence

Here:

The following letter was received today from the UK Foreign Minister, Dr Kim Howells MP in response to a letter from CAABU. It confirms that measures are being put in place to ensure that Israeli settler leaders will not be invited to Embassy parties in the future.

CAABU welcomes the Minister's response and also with regards to his reiteration that the UK position on illegal Israeli settlements has not changed.

However, CAABU continues to urge the Government that further action is required to ensure that Israel meets its obligations under international law and peace agreements to immediatley halt all settlement activity.


25th July 2008

Dear Mr Blunt,

Thank you for your letter of 1st July about the presence of some Israeli settlers at Her Majesty the Queen's Birthday Party at our Embassy in Tel Aviv.

I should like first of all to reiterate our firm position that all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law. You will indeed have seen that the Prime Minister spelt this out very clearly during his recent visit to the region and made clear including in a speech to the Israeli Knesset on 21 July that we want to see an immediate freeze of settlement activity and indeed withdrawal from them.

Our Embassy in Tel Aviv's contacts with the settler community have been with the goal of setting out the British Government's view on this issue, and to seek to convince them that settlements are a significant obstacle to peace. But you are right that their presence at this event was not helpful and the Embassy is reviewing its procedures to ensure that it does not happen in the future.

Kim Howells
Minister of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office



CAABU letter

Dr Kim Howells MP
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles St
London SW1A 0AH

25 June 2008

Dear Dr Howells,

We were very pleased that you agreed with me in Parliament on Tuesday 24 June that the invitation of the British Embassy to settler leaders to attend the Embassy's Queen's Birthday party sent out, "Not very helpful signals".

We were pleased because of course it had given the impression of a weakening in the government's long-held position that settlements were illegal and an obstacle to peace. Entertaining the pioneers of this colonisation movement has certain given the strong impression that Britain tacitly endorses it or no longer objects to it. Dani Dayan, for example who reportedly attended, is strongly in favour of expanding these settlements and even return settlements dismantled in the 2005 disengagement plan.

Given your comment, we would like to know what steps are being taken to ensure that this never happens again and that British tax payers' money is spent entertaining those who violate the Fourth Geneva Conventions and whose very presence has been an obstacle to a vital and much needed peace deal in the Middle East.

Yours sincerely,

Crispin Blunt MP
Joint Chairman, CAABU