MPs call for end to real estate event over fear it pushes sale of Israeli settlements

More than 100 UK lawmakers urge government to cancel London event, warning it is linked to land ‘stolen from Palestinians’

More than 100 UK lawmakers have called for the cancellation of an Israeli real estate event scheduled to take place in London on Sunday, which had appeared to advertise the sale of land in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank .

In a letter sent to the foreign secretary on Friday, 101 parliamentarians and members of the House of Lords , warned the event was “firmly embedded in Israel’s project of colonial expansion by facilitating the sale of land that has been stolen from Palestinians” and called on the government to take “all necessary steps” to stop the event from going ahead in the capital.

“Allowing the event to proceed would not only be inconsistent with current UK government guidance on settlement-related economic activity, it would stand in opposition to the government’s obligations under international law,” the letter to Yvette Cooper said.

Signatories included Labour MPs Andy McDonald and Debbie Abrahams, co-chairs of the British-Palestine all-party parliamentary group. The letter comes after concerns were raised by MPs in parliament, as well as by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who said he discussed the event with Metropolitan police.

On Tuesday, the UK along with other western powers, announced it is imposing sanctions on six firms and one individual for enabling and financing the recent upsurge in settler violence in the West Bank.

However, it fell short, in banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements, which more than 140 Labour MP’s, including the chairs of every Labour-led select committee, called on government to do earlier this week.

Organisations including Amnesty International UK, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Muslim Association of Britain, among other organisations, also called on the UK government to cancel the event.