RAMALLAH, February 17, 2016 (WAFA) – Members of the PLO Executive Committee Hanan Ashrawi and Saeb Erekat Wednesday slammed the United Kingdom’s decision to ban the boycott of Israeli products by public bodies, local councils and even some university student s.
In a joint statement Wednesday, Ashrawi and Erekat said the UK’s decision represents a “serious regression in British policy and would empower the Israeli occupation by sending a message of impunity.”
In order to accommodate the Israeli occupation, the statement added, “The British Government is undermining British democracy and their own people‘s rights. Such a law would have prevented British citizens from taking peaceful actions against the South African Apartheid.”
“Such a law also contradicts international responsibility and even the UK‘s own practice when it comes to entities violating human rights,” added the two officials.
Only last week, the Israeli Human Rights Organization Peace Now released a study detailing the Israeli government‘s escalation of settlement activities at an unprecedented rate. They found that only in 2015 construction was initiated in at least 1,800 settlement units.
“It is no longer acceptable for any government to claim support for the two-state solution while granting immunity to Israeli crimes and systematic violations of international law and UN resolutions,” the statement continued.
The two officials called for Israel to be held accountable for “deliberately destroying the prospects of peace”.
“Next year signals the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a tragedy that continues to victimize the Palestinian people, both under occupation and in exile. The United Kingdom bears the primary responsibility for such a historical injustice in Palestine. It is called upon to begin the process of rectification and redemption rather than to insist on perpetuating the injustice.”
Erekat and Ashrawi urged the British government to reconsider its positions and to rescind this regulation. “This is not only a matter of law or politics, but also of moral responsibility.”
M.N
