Friday, 17 July 2020 _Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that he soon intends to annex up to half of the illegally occupied Palestinian West Bank prompting pushback from the international community.
Whilst Palestinians have protested the annexation plan inside occupied Palestine, Palestinian refugees living in the United Kingdom, the former colonial occupier of Palestine have been making noise, signaling to the British government that they do not wish to see the UK make the same mistakes as they did in the past and allow Israel to get away with its planned acquisition of territories via war.
Almost 130 British Members of Parliament signed onto a joint letter condemning Israel’s annexation plan, calling on the UK government to impose sanctions on Israel. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also weighed in on the decision urging Israel to reconsider.
Elsewhere in Europe the issue has been taken even more seriously with over 1000 members of the EU parliament signing a letter condemning the move. In Belgium the parliament even voted unanimously on a bill to punish Israel for annexation, naming sanctions as a potential punishment.
It is widely accepted by analysts that Israel’s planned annexation of even more Palestinian land will spell the end of any future talks to reach a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank having torn up the all agreements between themselves and the Israelis and US.
With fears that annexation may lead to a new war against the illegally besieged Gaza Strip, a territory declared by experts at the United Nations to be unlivable as of this year. With the majority of the Palestinian population having been displaced to all corners of the globe following the first annexation of land by Israel in 1948.
The Palestinian diaspora in Britain live with a special type of pain, knowing that the UK government helped create the situation of today and may sit by as that situation changes for the worst.