British Labor leader welcomes ICC investigations into occupation crimes

2022-03-30 23:14:31
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The leader of the British Labor and Opposition Party, Sir Keir Starmer, said that his party supports the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state as part of the two-state solution on the 1967 borders.

This came in a speech delivered at a large reception hosted by the Friends of Palestine group in the Labor Party at the British Parliament building in the capital, London, in the presence of the State of Palestine's ambassador to the United Kingdom Husam Zomlot.

Starmer said that his party initially opposes the forced removal of Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, and his party wants Israel to end its policy of building illegal settlements in the occupied territories, and respect the status quo in the holy sites.

He added that he welcomes the investigation by the International Criminal Court into Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories, stressing that the crisis in Ukraine has re-shed light on the paramount importance of applying international law and human rights to all.

In his speech, the State of Palestine's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot, said that the British Labor Party and Palestine have deep ties that are based on international solidarity and reflect the great support for the rights of the Palestinian people among the leaders and members of the Labor Party.

The ambassador of the State of Palestine called on the Labor Party to work on implementing the decisions of the Labor Party for the immediate recognition of the State of Palestine. He also called for banning Israeli settlement products in British markets and punishing British companies operating in them, saying: Israel's settlement project is tantamount to a phased annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories, and this constitutes a war crime as defined in international law.

Zomlot expressed the disappointment of the Palestinian people and the peoples of the region about the duplicity and selectivity of the world in the application of international law.

At the end of his speech, Zomlot saluted all members of the Labor Party for their pro-Palestine stances, saying: Everyone should not stop working to restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region.

The ceremony was attended by a group of British Parliament members from the Labor Party, including former party leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband, and all members of the opposition shadow government in the British Parliament. A number of Arab and foreign ambassadors, representatives of the Palestinian community in Britain, and the team of the Palestinian Embassy in the United Kingdom also participated in the ceremony.