More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.
An unprecedented joint letter dispenses with diplomatic language by accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and warning that the world no longer sees Israel as a genuine democracy.
Arguing that Britain and France played a key role in the formation of the modern-day Middle East and noting that both countries took the step of recognising Palestine as a state in 2025, the diplomats contend that their countries now have a responsibility ‘to make common cause on the region’s fundamental fault line – equal rights for Israeli and Palestinians’.
The letter, addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, has been signed by 52 French former diplomats and 50 British former ambassadors, many of whom served in the Middle East, in senior posts in Egypt, Iran, Bahrain, Israel, Syria, Türkiye, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The letter, given to The Guardian and Le Monde, is published two days after the UK and France along with nine other countries condemned the Israeli government’s publication of construction tenders for the E1 settlement project, saying the proposed housing ‘will take Israel further from peace and undermine its international standing’.
That statement contained no clear threat of consequences apart from a warning to businesses in their jurisdictions not to become involved in bidding since there could be legal and reputational consequences arising from investing in the construction of an unlawful settlement.
“In Gaza, two million Palestinians are kettled into 30 per cent of their devastated land, hungry, lacking medicine and housing. Over 1,200 Palestinians have been killed since the so-called ‘ceasefire’. In East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, Palestinian house demolitions and rampant settler violence – with the connivance of the Israeli army and police – amount to ethnic cleansing. Palestine is being erased before our eyes. This policy of occupation and destruction extends to Lebanon.”
Diplomacy surrounding the terms for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza has largely been subcontracted to the negotiations between Israel and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, but Israel has rejected the latest 15-point US-led peace plan for Gaza, leading to criticism from eight Muslim countries including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
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