The UK has warned Israel that expelling its diplomats from the country would undermine peace plan efforts in Gaza.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government faces backlash from Israel as it prepares to ban goods from Israeli settlement projects in the West Bank.
Last week, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar expelled Dutch diplomats from the US-led International Gaza Support Centre in Kiryat Gat, which supports the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and monitors the ceasefire. This came in response to the Netherlands’ move to boycott Israeli goods from settlements.
Israel is now considering the expulsion of British representatives from the multinational IGSC, according to the FT.
But a UK government representative told The National that doing so would be detrimental to the Gaza peace plan. “The UK is committed to the implementation of the 20-Point Plan in Gaza and playing our part in improving the situation on the ground,” the representative said.
“At the request of the United States and the Board of Peace, and because of that commitment to Gaza's future, we continue to work at IGSC with the US, Israel, international partners and UN agencies in support of UNSCR 2803. Removing the UK or other partners would undermine these shared efforts.”
Some argue that the UK should not take part in the IGSC initiative alongside Israel, so long as Israel continues to restrict aid entry into Gaza using such mechanisms.
“The UK should have had nothing to do with such a co-ordination centre, not least as Israel bans entry into Gaza of vital products such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, even watermelons and onions,” said Chris Doyle, director of the Centre for Arab British Understanding.
UK-Israel relations have deteriorated since former Prime Minister Keir Starmer recognised a Palestinian state last year. They were further strained by Israel's plans to launch a tender for the E1 settlement project in the West Bank, which campaigners warn would sever links to Jerusalem.
The UK has repeatedly warned British companies against taking part in the construction of E1 and other legal settlements. Mr Burnham is said to be considering sanctions that would ban trade with settlement goods in the UK, according to Bloomberg.
Such a move could also exacerbate divisions on the Palestinian issue within the Labour Party. More than 140 Labour MPs signed an open letter calling for the boycott in June. There has been hope that Mr Burnham will take a tougher stance on Israel than his predecessor.
But Labour Friends of Israel, a group that includes senior Labour figures, opposes it. The group has warned that it would be difficult to distinguish between goods produced in Israel and in settlements, leading to a “de facto” boycott of Israel as a whole. It also believes that isolating Israel further could work in favour of the country’s far-right before elections in October.
“A settlement boycott would thus become a de facto boycott of all of Israel, which would rightly be perceived within the UK Jewish community as a further example of the government singling out and targeting Israel for punitive action and harsh rhetoric,” LFI said in a report this month.
