On Tuesday 23 June PSC handed in a letter and petition – signed by more than 20,000 people – to the Prime Minister calling for sanctions on Israel until it abides by international law and ends its siege on Gaza. We have now received the reply via the Foreign Office which you can read here – FCO letter July 2015
Below is a copy of the letter sent to the Prime Minister – from Hugh Lanning, Maxine Peake, Brian Eno, Samuel West and many others – urging the government to apply sanctions on Israel.
June 23rd 2015
Dear Mr Cameron
One day before he was re-elected in March, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stood in an illegal settlement and gave a televised interview in which he made it clear there would never be a Palestinian state on his watch.
Since the election, members of his Cabinet have stated explicitly that they will not give up an inch of land to the Palestinians, and new settlement building has been announced in East Jerusalem.
It is clear that this Israeli government, like others before it, has no commitment to international law or any kind of ‘peace process’. It is now imperative that the UK government pushes the EU to impose immediate sanctions on Israel, including a full two-way arms embargo.
The Palestinians deserve a future free from occupation, apartheid and, in Gaza, crippling siege. The imposition of sanctions by our government and the EU will go a long way to achieving this.
Please find enclosed the text of a petition urging you to push the EU to impose sanctions on Israel until it abides by international law and ends the occupation and the siege on Gaza.
Yours sincerely
Hugh Lanning
Chair, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Tariq Ali, writer, journalist, filmmaker
Will Alsop, architect
Jonathan Chadwick, theatre director, writer
Selma Dabbagh, writer
Brian Eno, musician
Peter Kosminsky, writer, director, producer,
Paul Laverty, lawyer, scriptwriter
Ken Loach, director
Miriam Margolyes, actor
Karma Nabulsi, writer, academic
Maxine Peake, actor
Alexei Sayle, comedian, writer, presenter
Ahdaf Soueif, writer, commentator
Samuel West, actor
Benjamin Zephaniah, poet, writer, musician
And 20,000 others, whose names are enclosed