40th ANNIVERSARY OF JUNE 1967 MIDDLE EAST WAR

Early day motion 1612, tabled 5 June 2007 by Richard Burden (Labour). Signed by 78 members.

That this House notes the anniversary of the Six Day War and the start of the 40 year Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights together with the military blockade of Gaza, which has brutalised and brought misery rather than peace to Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs; further notes that a lasting peace requires the creation of a viable sovereign Palestinian state alongside an Israel secure within its lawful borders but that Israeli settlement expansion, together with hundreds of checkpoints, a discriminatory road system and the Separation Wall, is undermining the chances of achieving this; insists that a full withdrawal by Israel from all occupied territories, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and full recognition of Israel by all Arab states in line with UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 are essential to a sustainable peace upholding the legal principle that the acquisition of territory by war is inadmissible; calls upon the UK Government, as a High Contracting Party to the 4th Geneva Convention, to insist that, pending withdrawal, Israel implement its legal humanitarian obligations as an occupying power; and further calls on the UK Government to engage with both the Palestinian Unity Government and the government of Israel to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, southern Israel and the West Bank to prevent an even greater crisis escalating in the Middle East.

Signatures by party: Labour 54, Liberal Democrat 14, Conservative 4, Plaid Cymru 2, Independent 1, Independent Labour 1, Scottish National Party 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.