UK ZF Takes On Foreign Secretary David Miliband

For further info:

Jonathan Hoffman, Vice Chairman ZF, office@zionist.org.uk:




The Press Release:

Property purchase in the ‘Occupied Territories”

The FCO is reportedly adding to the ‘travel advice’ section of its website a warning to prospective purchasers of property in the ‘Occupied Territories’ that a future peace deal could have consequences for the property.

1. The UK government has no legal basis for its oft-repeated assertion that the settlements are “illegal under international law”. The Geneva Convention cannot apply to most of the ‘Occupied Territories’ because they have never been recognised as sovereign territory. For example as part of Mandatory Palestine, Judea and Samaria never belonged to any sovereign state but were occupied and administered illegally by Jordan and Egypt between 1948 and 1967, after the Arab war of aggression against Israel in 1948. And East Jerusalem was captured by Jordan in the War of 1948.

Further, the Geneva Convention was designed to prohibit the forcible transfer of population into occupied territories, such as was practised by the Nazis and USSR before and during World War Two. But the Israeli settlers in the West Bank went there voluntarily. And as a country that was attacked, Israel is entirely within its legal rights to retain territory that continues to be used as a base for attacks against it.

As the late Eugene Rostow (the former US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs who played a leading role in drafting Resolution 242) repeatedly said, far from being illegally settled in the disputed territories, the Jews have every right to be there under international law.

2. The FCO’s reported new advice is also very surprising after the recent close co-operation with the UK government shown by President Peres (here a few weeks ago) and Prime Minister Olmert (here last week), for example in negotiations about new investment in Judea and Samaria, which also involved Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (also here last week).

3. The ZF is concerned that by raising unrealistic expectations, much of the current rhetoric from the UK government (for example, about “illegality” and the reported warning to prospective purchasers of property) can only encourage terrorism. Indeed in other respects the government’s language is much more careful. For example, it always refers to “withdrawal from settlements” rather than “withdrawal from all settlements” or “withdrawal from the settlements”. This is a correct reflection of the position adopted by most moderate Palestinians who accept that land swaps will be part of any final negotiations.

4. Israel has proved that it wants peace, by negotiating peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. It has proved that it is prepared to give up land, by withdrawing from Gaza. In the middle of the Annapolis peace process, the ZF believes that it is crucial that the UK government supports the voices of moderation - and not those of extremism.

The Matter of Labelling and That Boycott of Yesha Products

An EU-Israel trade agreement allows goods made in Israel to be imported into the 27-nation EU at reduced or nil rates of customs duty. However, products of Jewish communities in the areas of Judea and Samaria are excluded from the benefits and must pay the full rate of duty.

The UK Foreign Office claims there had been reports that the agreement was being circumvented and that some goods produced at these Jewish communities may have been wrongly labelled as made in Israel.

The Foreign Minister, David Miliband, called recently for

"the fair and proper implementation of the agreements on produce from this region...That means preferential trade for Israeli products, preferential trade for Palestinian products, but not preferential trade from the settlements," he said. The Foreign Office spokesman said Britain wanted the trade agreement implemented and products of Jewish settlements labelled as such. "Neither the UK nor the EU should do anything that inadvertently supports or encourages illegal settlement activity," he said.

[Israel President Shimon] Peres said there was an EU agreement. "I think it would be strange to have 27 agreements on every issue, with all due respect. We negotiated very hard to find a compromise," he said. Most workers in the settlements were Palestinians and if they were fired due to a crackdown on exports it would increase unemployment, said Peres, who is on a five-day visit to Britain.

Asked how he justified the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Peres said: "Why should they suffer? Let them stop shooting and they won't suffer."

First of all, kudos to Peres for finally being rational and pithy.

Second of all, do we now have to label exactly who made these products? After all, if Arabs are employed, does it not make the products, partially at least, non-Jewish?

Third, if Israeli Arabs who consider themselves "Palestinian Arabs with Israeli citizenship", as is the latest subversive nationalist fashion among them, would Mr. Miliband & Co. require any products and produce they make to be labelled as, what?

And fourth, if Israel decided that the UK was doing something "illegal", I don't know, like Ireland, the Falkland Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Indian Ocean Territory or such matters as the operations of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, could we retaliate economically - with full justification?

Kickstart? Or Start Kicking Israel?

With the boycott news, comes this:-

Miliband: Syria can help kickstart Middle East peace process
Foreign secretary calls for cooperation after meeting with President Bashar al-Assad

Syria should play a "constructive role" in the search for Middle East peace, David Miliband urged on his groundbreaking visit to Damascus today. But the foreign secretary said that rocket attacks by Hamas, supported by Syria, were harming that process.

Of course, that was with help from the correspondent, Ian Black, not an Israel lover,

Economic Pressure Is Legitimate

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband:-

"The British position is for the fair and proper implementation of the agreements on produce from the region," Mr Miliband said at a joint news conference with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.

"That means preferential trade for Israeli products, preferential trade for Palestinian products, but not preferential trade from the settlements."

Noted.