RAMALLAH, January 24, 2017 (WAFA) – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Monday called on the British government to play a positive and constructive role in working to end the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi made this call during a meeting at her Ramallah office with the Jerusalem-based British Consul General Alastair McPhail.

“Both parties discussed the latest international and regional developments and the worsening conditions on the ground, including the British position vis-à-vis the French International Peace Conference and the European Union Foreign Affairs Council meeting, matters related to Brexit, and American policy positions regarding Israel‘s illegal settlement enterprise and its annexation of Palestinian land and resources, as well as recent political moves and options for the future,” said a statement issued by Ashrawi’s office.

Ahead of British Prime Minister Theresa May‘s upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday in Washington DC, Ashrawi called on the British government “to play a positive and constructive role in working to end the military occupation rather than compounding a historical injustice dating back to the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of the State of Israel on Palestinian soil,” said the statement.

"It is our hope that the British government acts in line with international law and the requirements for peace, and we trust that it will stand on the right side of justice, not on the side of the occupation and oppression,” Ashrawi told McPhail.

“We also urge the UK to exert a corrective force on the US administration rather than to encourage populism, racism, extremism, and impunity, especially as practiced by the Israeli government and in light of the new American administration‘s pronouncements on Jerusalem and the illegal settlements," added the PLO official.

The discussion also focused on the internal Palestinian situation and the importance of reconciliation and elections in Palestine.

M.K.