ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

Early day motion 188, tabled 25 November 2002 by Richard Burden (Labour). Signed by 93 members.

That this House notes that continuing violence in the Middle East has led to deaths of thousands of innocent Palestinians and Israelis and that Israel's imposition of checkpoints, curfews and closures have resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Territories with child malnutrition rates in Gaza now similar to those of sub-Saharan Africa; believes that any lasting peace must be based on justice for both Israelis and Palestinians and on a commitment from both sides to end violence, that Israel's right to self defence does not absolve it of its own obligations under international humanitarian law and UN resolutions and that the British Government should insist that Israel abide by these obligations, including stopping land expropriation and settlement-building, ending collective punishment of Palestinians and a full withdrawal from the Occupied Territories; welcomes the recommendations by Amnesty International in its report on Israeli Defence Force violations in Jenin and Nablus (MDE 15/43/2002) that 'the international community has an obligation ... to immediately stop the sale or transfer of weaponry that are used to commit human rights violations'; and calls on the British Government to act on that recommendation.

Signatures by party: Labour 64, Liberal Democrat 17, Labour/Co-operative 6, Plaid Cymru 3, Conservative 2, Scottish National Party 1.