Your leader on the Palestinian territories is timely (The Guardian view on mob violence in the West Bank: a new low, 28 February). The appalling settler rampage through Huwara, abetted by Israeli troops and encouraged by avowedly far-right and racist members of the governing coalition, has been likened in Israel to a pogrom and Kristallnacht. It is not necessary to seek precise equivalence to feel revulsion for the acts of vengeance in Huwara.
You point to the dangers of escalating violence and state that “this [Israeli] government cannot be left to wreak more damage”, but give no clues as to how they might be deterred. The first essential for dealing with a problem is to recognise that it exists. Although there has been no acknowledgment of the current escalation from the British government, the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, has met the Palestinian ambassador to the UK and discussed what he referred to as “shocking settler violence” and the need for accountability for violations of international law. Consideration of these matters is too often met by accusations of antisemitism, yet openly critical opinions of the current Israeli government are increasingly prevalent in the mainstream Jewish community.
Now that Labour has been given a clean bill of health in this respect by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, it should not fear taking a principled stand in opposition to the excesses of the Israeli government and developing policies aimed at achieving equal rights for all the inhabitants of Palestine and Israel.
Dr Anthony Isaacs
London
• In your editorial, you spoke of escalating Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Having just returned from a visit to the West Bank and Gaza, I saw at first-hand the horrifying impact of these spiralling levels of violence.
The law is clear: if a state transfers its own civilian population into territory that it occupies, this amounts to a war crime. Palestinians are losing their lives, their homes, their land and their livelihoods to make way for sprawling Israeli settlements that the international court of justice has concluded are in breach of international law.
We call on the UK government to ban all trade and investment with these settlements to ensure that British citizens and companies are not complicit in these violations and in the horrific acts we’ve seen in recent days. A commitment to international law, not business deals, should be the cornerstone of Britain’s foreign policy.
Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
CEO, Oxfam GB
• It’s a relief at last to hear robust criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its drift into far-right nationalism from a prominent Labour politician (Netanyahu has brought Israel to a dangerous moment. We, the Jewish diaspora, cannot just stand by, 3 March).
I particularly welcome Margaret Hodge’s call for the diaspora to make its voice heard. In his recent TV programme, based on his book Jews Don’t Count, David Baddiel argued that it’s unfair to expect non-Israeli Jews to condemn Israel’s faults, because Jews here have no greater responsibility than anyone else in the UK to say where they stand. Stephen Fry expresses the same view. But I disagree. I’m with Margaret Hodge on this. Because Israel was created as a homeland and sanctuary for Jews worldwide, people like me of Jewish origin have a particular duty to speak up and say “not in my name”.
Godfrey Stadlen
London
