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Call to lobby David Miliband about the banning of settlement produce in the UK

Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign call for a complete boycott of all Israeli products. However, due to the obvious legal case to be made against the sale of settlement products we are calling on our supporters to write to the UK government to ban the sale of settlement goods. Banning settlement goods in the UK has the potential to damage the economy of the occupation and is a strategically important goal.

Please write to your local MP (find your MP) asking them to raise the issue of settlement produce with the Foreign Secretary.

Please copy in to any correspondence you have and let us know about any responses you receive.

You could use the following model letter or write a personal letter.


Model Letter

Dear

In the light of the government’s declared opposition to settlements, I am writing to ask for your support for our campaign to ban the sale of produce grown in illegal Israeli settlements in Britain. The following points are relevant.

The Foreign Secretary stated on 25th July that; 'I was dismayed to learn of plans for new settlement construction in the Jordan Valley.  These are clearly outside Israel's Roadmap and Annapolis commitments.  At this important moment in the peace process all sides need to take steps to build confidence and ensure practical progress.  As the Prime Minister spelt out clearly during his recent visit to the region, settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories represents a real obstacle to peace.

  • The settlements are built on stolen land and are irrigated by water stolen from the Palestinians. It is no secret that they are projects that exploit the Palestinians and employ child labour.
  • It has been highlighted in a recent report by ITN that illegal Israeli settlement produce from the Palestinian Occupied territories has found its way to our supermarkets and continues to do so, labelled as produce of Israel.
  • These settlements are illegal under international law. UN Security Council resolutions 446 and 465 'deplore' the building of settlements on Palestinian land and instruct member states not to assist the building of settlements. The Geneva Convention states that the transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory is a war crime; to be ancillary to this crime is also a crime in English law.
  • The UK government's policy is quite clear. The government's website (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/fco-in-action/conflict/mepp/010-mepp-faq) states: "Settlements are illegal under international law" and settlement construction is an obstacle to peace as the Quartet Roadmap calls for a freeze on settlement expansion. With this statement in mind how can it be legal for settlements to export their produce to the UK.
  • Furthermore, profit made by British businesses from settlement produce could make them 'ancillary to a war crime' under the terms of the International Criminal Court Act 2001.
  • Despite this and many other resolutions and agreements, Israel continues to export settlement produce to the UK with impunity.
  • Moreover, it appears settlement produce is still benefiting from the preferential (reduced or nil) rates of customs duty under the EC-Israel Preferential Trade Agreement in force since June 2000. This could cost British tax payers millions of pounds in unpaid customs duties.
  • Recently, and under pressure from the EU to differentiate produce that originates from the Palestinian Occupied Territories from that coming from producers insideIsrael, Israeli producers in settlements have started labelling their produce as produce of the West Bank. This is misleading as the West Bank has become synonymous with Palestine and Palestinian suffering in the public mind. Consumers buying these products believe that they are supporting the Palestinian economy, while in fact they are supporting the economy of the occupier.
  • Despite repeated statements by the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and others Israel continues with settlement expansion. During July 2008 Israel approved the building of a new settlement, Maskiot, in the Israeli occupied Jordan Valley region of the West Bank.
I am writing to request that you ask the Foreign Secretary what his views on each of the issues are and suggest that he considers banning the import/export of settlement goods from the UK. Such a ban would be an effective way of demonstrating the British governments' sincerity in its opposition to illegal settlements.

I look forward to your response.

Signed

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