ISRAELI INCURSIONS INTO PALESTINIAN LAND

Early day motion 1106, tabled 10 April 2002 by Richard Burden (Labour). Signed by 153 members.

That this House calls for an immediate end to the Israeli offensive in the Occupied Territories based on international law and UN resolutions; urges the British Government and the international community to bring further pressure to bear on the Israeli Government immediately to withdraw its forces from Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps, strengthened by the dispatch of a United Nations observation team; calls for a cessation of the suffocating closures policy which constitutes collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention; condemns terrorism on all sides; endorses both UN Security Council Resolution 1397 envisaging 'a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognised borders' and the Saudi initiative approved by the Beirut Arab Summit; extends its support to the Israeli peace movement, including the Israeli army reservists who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories; calls for a cessation of violence on all sides, a freeze on all settlement expansion and a return to political negotiations, and insists that to end the 35 year-oppression and humiliation of the Palestinians and ensure lasting peace and security for all peoples, there must be permanent withdrawal by Israel from all occupied land, justice for the 3.8 million Palestinian refugees and the creation of a viable and fully independent Palestinian State.

Signatures by party: Labour 107, Liberal Democrat 27, Labour/Co-operative 9, Conservative 5, Plaid Cymru 4, Scottish National Party 1.