Wednesday, January 18, 2012

My worries about the British Government's worsening support for Israel

I am worried about what appears to be a weakening of support for Israel by the British Government.  As the JC reports due to the visit of Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas, the British Government seems to be increasingly critical  of Israel and the building of homes in the West Bank, with the Deputy Prime Minister calling these buildings 'vandalism'.


Settlements are of course an issue in any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, but definitely 


not the crucial issue as previous negotiations which the Palestinians have rejected has shown before. 


I certainly hope the negotiations which restarted a couple of weeks ago are eventually able to succeed.


The British Government should remember even current Government in Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu 


which was supported (and probably is still supported) by more than a majority of the population, froze 


settlement building for more than 10 months, but still the Palestinians refused to negotiate.. 


The Israeli Government is only continuing the established policy of the past 40 years where the settlements (or 


as I prefer to call them towns where ordinary people live) need to have further development as any town 


across the world requires.


This majority supported position in Israel a democratic decision (isn't that what the world is calling for across 


the Middle East) continues to support people living in and building their homes in existing towns, until the 


Palestinians agree to stop trying to kill Jewish people and recognise our State as the Jewish homeland. When 


that is achieved than peace will be possible.  So the British Government should stop condemning house 


building and pressure the Palestinians to recognise that Israel is a Jewish State which they should accept and 


negotiate with.