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UK Labour Party members condemn Israel for ‘ongoing Nakba’ in occupied Palestine

Tuesday, 28 September 2021 9:18 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 28 September 2021 9:33 AM ]

Israeli forces try to arrest a Palestinian man from the village of Susya during scuffles with extremist Jewish settlers from the settlement of the same name, as a group of representatives of the European Union visit the area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli control, on the outskirts of the village of Yatta, on September 24, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

Members of British Labour Party have passed a resolution condemning Israel for perpetrating an “ongoing Nakba” in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The motion, brought by Young Labour, was approved at the party’s annual conference on Monday with about twice as many votes for as against, according to the Jewish News website.

“Conference condemns the ongoing Nakba in Palestine, Israel’s militarized violence attacking the al-Aqsa Mosque, the forced displacements from Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood in East al-Quds] and the deadly assault on Gaza,” the motion read.

“Together with the de facto annexation of Palestinian land by accelerated settlement building and statements of Israel’s intention to proceed with annexation, it is ever clearer that Israel is intent on eliminating any prospects of Palestinian self-determination,” it added.

Full text of the historic motion on Palestine passed at #LabourPartyConference2021 #Lab21 pic.twitter.com/byDTUxmTEb
— PSC (@PSCupdates) September 27, 2021

The motion also noted a Trades Union Congress in 2020 that described Israel’s West Bank policies, including settlement building and annexation, as “another significant step towards the UN Crime of Apartheid.”

The British legislators cited “unequivocal” reports by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and the New York-based Human Rights Watch that branded Israel as an “apartheid” regime.

Earlier this year, B’Tselem said in a report that Israel is not a democracy but an “apartheid regime” that systematically oppresses the Palestinians via military occupation and racist laws.

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It said, “Israeli apartheid, which promotes the supremacy of Jews over Palestinians, was not born in one day or of a single speech. It is a process that has gradually grown more institutionalized and explicit, with mechanisms introduced over time in law and practice to promote Jewish supremacy.”

“These accumulated measures, their pervasiveness in legislation and political practice, and the public and judicial support they receive – all form the basis for our conclusion that the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met,” the advocacy group said.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East al-Quds during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later annexed East al-Quds in a move not recognized by the international community.