Palestinian relations with UK improve despite Israeli pressure

Palestinian relations with the UK government can withstand pressure from Israel as the two sides work together on enforcement of British sanctions on West Bank settlements, a leading envoy has said.

Palestine's ambassador to the UK said the sanctions are vital to countering Israeli pressure on the Palestinian economy, reducing the risk to the West Bank from efforts to engineer annexation and collapse.

Husam Zomlot told The National that Palestinian diplomats in the UK are working with British officials to ensure that the newly announced sanctions regime targets settlements effectively.

Palestinian trade and finance is restricted by the occupation, as almost all exports go through Israeli checkpoints and customs channels. Palestinian banks are required to correspond with a small number of Israeli banks to make overseas payments.

“They are strangling our economy. They have our economy by the throat. We need the UK and the rest of the world make sure that we have several throats to breathe,” Mr Zomlot said.

“The only throat we breathe through is the Israeli-controlled system, be it on the borders as far as the trade and the goods, be it in the banking sector.

Show caption: Husam Zomlot, Palestine's ambassador to the UK. Leon Neal / …

Mr Zomlot said he had had regular meetings with British officials since the UK announced a new sanctions regime banning trade in goods and services from illegal settlements in September.

Mr Zomlot said he hoped to see a British foreign policy that aimed to “disable” the Israeli settlement expansion and occupation of Palestine – while also “enabling” Palestine's economy.

Palestinian officials – echoed by British campaign groups – are seeking a full arms embargo on Israel, and sanctions on the Israeli state institutions that assist settlement expansion.

“That (sanctions) track is still at its beginning. We have a long way to go,” he said.

“We've been saying to the British government ... settlements are the crime. Israel is the criminal. So you cannot just sanction the crime and not the criminal,” he said.

Meanwhile, he is also discussing measures that would enhance trade relations with the UK.

Upgraded ties

This would build on a deal signed by Palestinian premier Mohammad Mustafa and former foreign secretary David Lammy last year.

“The second track is enabling the establishment of the state that you have recognised last year. Enabling it requires much more work in the bilateral relation and the multilateral in terms of trade,” he said.

Upgraded trade and economic ties are one way to make that happen. The members' association, Paltrade, and the Palestinian olive oil company Al Reef, held a roadshow last month across Europe promoting Palestinian agricultural products and meeting with European officials.

But Mr Zomlot says there are conversations over more heavyweight trade exchanges of technology and renewable energy know-how.

Show caption: Husam Zomlot says talks are in progress over heavyweight tra…

Israel has attempted to put pressure on these growing relations between the UK and Palestine. Last month it retaliated against the settlements trade ban by downgrading the British consulate general in Jerusalem.

Persistence pays

But this has not deterred co-operation on the ground. “We are working with all relevant authorities to make sure that the consulate general remains and the British presence remains as it was and as it is,” he said.

“The state of Palestine will continue working with the British presence (in Jerusalem) and make sure that it is strong and that the status does not change,” he said.

“The decision by Israel is completely and utterly illegal. Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem, and that consulate serves as the address of Britain serving the Palestinian people,” he said. “It’s piracy and diplomatic terror,” he said.

“The whole thing should not have been allowed. I was diplomatic heresy in every sense,”

“The Israeli government has had that plan all along. Their plan is to cleanse Jerusalem of any international representation. So it was a matter of time,” he said.

Last week, the UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said that these new regulations would allow the government to act more swiftly in designating people and organisations on human rights grounds.