There is one thing to bear in mind when considering the actions of the Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, in imposing sanctions on Jewish settlements in the occupied territories and it is the stance of his mother, Marion, who died earlier this year. Marion Kozak was a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust by taking refuge in a convent. She made her life here and, like her husband Ralph, was a social activist and campaigner for the causes she believed in. And one of those causes was a just settlement for Palestinians.
She was one of the founding signatories of a group called Jews for Justice for Palestinians, which calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of recognised Palestinian territories. On the expanding Israeli settlements, against which the Government has announced sanctions, it says, “Israel’s declared motive for its offensives policy is to suppress expected terrorist attacks. However, the continued settlement expansion makes it clear that much of its motive is to expand settlements under cover of the war on Gaza.”
