THE Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has hailed a coalition of more than 100 former French and British diplomats calling on their governments to work together to uphold international law in the occupied Palestinian territories, and jointly sanction Israel.
The 102 signatories of the letter published in the French newspaper Le Monde on Saturday included former British ambassadors to the UN Jeremy Greenstock and Emyr Jones Parry, as well as the former directors for West Asia at the French foreign ministry, Yves Aubin de la Messuzière and Denis Bauchard.
The letter said France and the United Kingdom ‘must act together to uphold international law in Palestine’, warning that Israeli policy in occupied Palestinian territory threatens to permanently erase the possibility of a Palestinian state.
The letter was addressed to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, with copies also sent to French President Emmanuel Macron and British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim, in a brief statement released on Saturday, called on British and French governments to translate recognition of the State of Palestine into concrete decisions and actions, and to work towards securing a political solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He noted that the signatories stated that ‘Palestine is being erased before our eyes’, highlighting ‘the urgency of taking legal action against Israeli war criminals in accordance with international court rulings’.
‘Those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity must be held to account,’ the former French and British diplomats said, adding that only such action would allow the two governments to ‘rebut the accusation of double standards’.
The signatories said France and the United Kingdom, which recognised the state of Palestine in 2025, should take ‘urgent action’ to safeguard the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
They urged France and the UK to take seven measures, including upholding decisions by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement over alleged breaches of human rights provisions, and suspending arms transfers to and from Israel and bilateral military cooperation.
The former diplomats also called for ‘unrestricted aid access to Gaza’, led by UNRWA, other UN agencies and international nongovernmental organisations, as well as access for journalists, diplomats and parliamentarians.
They urged the two governments to ‘ban all trade with settlements’, including goods, investment, insurance and other financial services.
The former diplomats said Israel’s policy of occupation and destruction extended beyond the Palestinian territories to Lebanon and Syria.
