Alistair Burt MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

King Charles Street

London SW1A 2AH

10^th February 2012

Dear Alistair,

Thank you for your recent and positive response to my parliamentary question (92955) about the plight of the Bedouin families from Anata in the West Bank who had their homes demolished on 23 January 2012. I particularly welcome your statement that "Demolitions of Palestinian homes in the west bank are illegal and deeply unhelpful to efforts to bring a lasting peace to the middle east conflict" and hope you might, therefore, be willing to take urgent action to try to prevent the planned demolition of Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem town of Silwan. If these demolitions go ahead 1000 Palestinians, who have lived in the neighbourhood for generations, would be made homeless and left with nothing.

The destruction of these homes in Silwan is to make room for a tourist attraction and I understand it would be the largest single mass demolition by the Israeli authorities since 1967. The issuing of demolition notices last week comes on top of a decision by the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee to build additional structures in the neighbourhood, a move which you condemned as "provocative and deeply counter-productive."

Please use your influence with the Israeli Government to call a halt to these planned demolitions of Palestinian homes and the illegal building proposals from the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee.

I would also like to call on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to oppose any new upgrade of the EU-Israel Association Agreement whilst Israel continues to breach international law. I think it is unacceptable for EU funding to support Israeli companies or organisations operating in settlements or the Occupied Territories in defiance of international law - and hope the Government will support such a position. I have sponsored an Early Day Motion underlining this point, a copy of which is enclosed, and would be interested in your response.

Britain continues to afford Israel preferential trade terms and withdrawing this privilege, as well as campaigning for other EU Member States to do likewise, would be a practical way for the Government to strengthen its statements on human rights abuses with concrete action. I hope this is something the Foreign Secretary will pursue at the forthcoming annual meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council.

In recent weeks a number of Palestinian political figures have been arrested by the Israeli military, including two members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), who were seized from the grounds of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in East Jerusalem. I am sure you will be aware that the ICRC has called the actions a violation of the Geneva Convention. I understand that 27 PLC members are now imprisoned by Israel and would urge you to raise this with the Israeli authorities. Immediate action is required in order to prevent Israel from continuing to undermine democracy in Occupied Palestine and it is essential that countries like Britain do more than simply express concern about the situation.

Finally, I want to bring your attention to the death of Mustafa Tamimi, who was killed at the hands of Israeli soldiers. It is imperative that no more innocent Palestinian or Israeli civilians die as a result of the Middle East conflict and I hope you will publicly condemn those responsible for Mr Tamimi's murder. Please also use your role to take forward and build on positive steps such as support for the establishment of a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East so as to secure a just and lasting peace in the region.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion