Arrests of Friends of Standing Together and British nationals in the West Bank

That this House condemns the arrest on 21 October by Israeli forces of approximately 80 volunteers accompanying Palestinian farmers to obstruct and document settler attacks in the West Bank, nine of whom were British nationals, and the Israeli government’s wider obstruction and deportation of such volunteers; notes that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has documented over 1600 instances of settler terrorism leading to casualties or property damage this year; further notes that Israeli forces have systematically failed to arrest the settlers responsible, and armed and funded settler militias; warns that the settler movement’s influence on state policy and infiltration of the security forces is already achieving the movement’s aims of displacing Palestinians and denying them self-determination, and will not be stopped by a change of government alone; and commends the courageous work of those supporting Palestinians against settler violence, including the umbrella ‘Protect the Harvest’ initiative, Standing Together, Rabbis for Human Rights, and British nationals and groups supporting them.