Foreign Secretary tells Labour conference of his concern over growing violence in West Bank
Israel could face further sanctions over settler violence in the West Bank, David Lammy has suggested.
The Foreign Secretary told a fringe event at Labour’s conference in Liverpool he was “deeply” concerned by “escalatory behaviour” in the region.
“I’m deeply, deeply worried by the growing violence and settler violence that we see in the West Bank,” Mr Lammy said.
“I’m in discussions with G7 partners, particularly European partners on that. I’m not announcing further sanctions today, but that is kept under close review.”
Mr Lammy’s comments are the latest in a series of warnings of further sanctions in response to the expansion of settlements and increase in violence in the occupied West Bank since last October.
Last week, Dame Barbara Woodward, the UK permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), described it as a “deteriorating situation” which “undermines prospects for peace”.
She told the UN Security Council: “We reiterate our clear position that any attempt to alter the geographic or demographic make-up of the Occupied Palestinian Territories through the use of force and outside of a negotiated solution is wholly unacceptable and illegal.”
Mr Lammy used his keynote speech at the Labour conference, in Liverpool, on Sunday afternoon to declare “Britain is back” on the world stage under a Labour government.
He also cited reinstating the funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), after it was suspended by the Conservatives.
The Foreign Secretary said: “When we restored the funding to UNRWA for their work in Gaza, what did we say, conference? Britain is back.
“And when we stood up for international law when it was not easy, what did we say? Britain is back.”
It comes weeks after the Foreign Secretary announced some arms licences to Israel would be suspended after a review found a “clear risk” that UK arms may be used to violate international law.
Around 30 out of 350 licences were suspended, in a move that Mr Lammy described as “not a blanket ban” and “not an arms embargo”.
But pro-Gaza Labour MPs and unions have demanded that the Government go further by suspending all arms licences to Israel amid its war with Gaza.
Mr Lammy also declared the UK would be a “leading nation in Europe once again” in his speech, as part of a push for a “reset” of relations with Brussels.
He also suggested that Russia had been responsible for the disorder that swept Britain last month.
Speaking directly to Vladimir Putin, Mr Lammy said: “Your interference in our democracy, promoting disinformation and encouraging disorder on our streets, encouraging kleptocrats to store their ill-gotten gains in our property market, must end.”
The Foreign Secretary took to the conference stage directly after Valery Zaluzhny, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK and former army chief, who had demanded that Kyiv be allowed to strike military targets.
