Melanie Ward

“I rise to speak in support of a UK ban on trade in goods and services from illegal Israeli settlements. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) for securing the debate and for all her work on the issue. Last month I organised a letter to the Foreign Secretary, which was co-signed by more than 140 Labour colleagues, to call for such a ban. The strength of feeling among Labour Members, and across the House, is clear. I hope that the Minister has heard that. The existence and expansion of Israeli settlements is an impediment to peace and to a two-state solution. Some Israeli Government Ministers are now helpfully clear that that is their purpose. In response, British Jewish organisation Yachad has a letter from British Jews in support of a settlement trade ban, with almost 1,000 signatures so far. As they know, Israeli settlements are not normal places, and we should not deal with them as if they were. Instead, we must follow through both on our historic recognition of the state of Palestine and on the ICJ advisory opinion. A trade ban would be one way of properly delineating between the state of Israel and the state of Palestine. Settlements are an affront not only to international law, but to human decency. In 2013, I had the life-changing experience of serving as a human rights observer in Hebron, in the west bank. In this Palestinian city, day after day, I witnessed the routine violence against and humiliation of Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers and soldiers alike. I do not have time to share with hon. Members all the events that I witnessed, day after day, but they included a man being harassed and held at a checkpoint for hours because he took some biscuits to a kindergarten; a family with a young child and a disabled son being attacked by settlers, who called on others to “come and attack the Arabs”; and Palestinians being barred from entering their home by neighbouring Israeli settlers while Israeli soldiers stood and watched, as we asked them to help, before attacking us—internationals who were observing the situation—and arresting one of the internationals, with settlers cheering as they took him away in a van. We also witnessed daily, on the school run, Palestinian children being tear-gassed and having stun grenades thrown at them by Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian children were terrified. And so it went on. Which other population would we expect to put up with that day after day? Every time I have returned since, the situation has worsened. Year after year, Governments issue statements about the situation. It is time we got on with a ban on settlement trade. It is no use the Government’s dragging their feet. We have had to do that on too many issues. Can we please just get on with it?”