Gaza Last? The British Government's U-turn on Palestine

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As calls to hold the Israeli government to account grow louder, the British government whispers ever more softly in Sharon's ear. Responding to a legal letter from War on Want and The Dove and The Dolphin Charity this month, the Foreign Office, in a highly censored set of documents, revealed just how little they have really done over the last year to uphold their obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, spelt our in the International Court of Justice's decision on the Separation Wall. The Foreign Office admits quite openly that their strategy of close engagement with Israel has failed; hardly surprising given that the 'strategy' seemed to consist of mentioning the issue at a handful of meetings. Despite this, they have no other strategy apart from even closer engagement through 'European Neighbourhood Policy' (ENP) Action Plans. These plans provide for closer ties with Europe's neighbours, including Israel, to go "beyond co-operation, to involve a significant measure of economic integration and a deepening of political co-operation" in which Israel and the EU will "intensify political, security, economic, scientific and cultural relations". In other words, the opposite of suspending currently existing economic preferences for Israel, which the Palestinians have called for, and which the EU is actually legally bound, but unwilling, to do. So between encouraging Israel to flout international law in the Jerusalem Post; tripling arms sales to Israel in the first three months of 2005; and encouraging the EU to make even closer ties with Israel, British Foreign policy appears to be taking a turn for the even worse. Howells even suggests in the Jerusalem Post that Palestinian aid is on the line, if they refuse to play the game our way - Britain needs "a signal that it [the PA] is capable of good governance. This is not a bottomless pit that this money is coming from."