<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[London&#8217;s Foreign Office Might as Well Relocate to Tel&nbsp;Aviv]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="100%" align="center">
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<td class="normal_text" style="padding-left:15px;" align="right">13:42 01/23/2011</td>
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<td class="caption_text" align="center">The Jewish Chronicle was ecstatic about Burt&#8217;s appointment.</td>
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<td class="normal_text" style="padding-top:10px;"><strong>By Stuart Littlewood &#8211; London</strong></p>
<p>What  our Foreign Office minister said on his recent visit to Israel and  Occupied Palestine shows more clearly than ever why the struggle in the  Holy Land extends all the way to our own front door here in the UK.</p>
<p>The  new minister in charge of Middle East affairs, Alistair Burt, was there  to reward the sterling work of the Palestinian Authority&#8217;s prime  minister Salam Fayyad and his boss, president Mahmoud Abbas, with a gift  of £17 million. This largesse no doubt made the British government feel  better about doing naff-all to right the catalogue of wrongs going back  to 1917.</p>
<p>The official reason was that Burt is impressed by the  dynamic duo&#8217;s progress towards creating an independent, viable  Palestinian state &#8220;living in peace with a secure Israel&#8221;.</p>
<p>Their  only real achievement, however, is the way they have turned the Occupied  Territories into a police state of the most sinister kind with torture,  rape and other extreme forms of cruelty a regular feature of the  prisons they run.</p>
<p>This bonus from the British taxpayer is supposed  to pay for schooling for over 4,400 children, fund 340 teachers, and  help 15,000 people continue to receive clean water, says Burt.</p>
<p>More  likely it’s a sweetener to get the Palestinian leaders back to the  negotiation table. Burt seems desperately keen for that to happen,  though God knows why. &#8220;It is critical that both sides find a way to  return to talks. The current impasse is of great concern and I urge all  parties to take immediate steps to secure a lasting peace…</p>
<p>“We  firmly believe that this should see a Palestinian state based on 1967  borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is the solution  which offers the best prospect of a just and sustainable peace.</p>
<p>“I  also hold firmly the view that settlement construction is illegal,  wrong and should stop. It blights the lives of Palestinians and is an  obstacle to peace.&#8221;</p>
<p>Talk is easy when you have no intention of  following it up with action. Mr Burt is not about to transform himself  into a man of action for peace. Why not? Because he&#8217;s an Israel lobby  stooge. He used to be (and maybe still is, for all I know) an officer of  that infamous bunch of Israel-firsters, the Conservative Friends of  Israel.</p>
<p>The Foreign Office is stuffed with them, all appointed by  our new prime minister, David “I’m-a-Zionist” Cameron. This misguided  individual is famously quoted on the Friends of Israel website as  saying: “The friendship… will deepen, because the ties between this  party and Israel are unbreakable. And in me, you have a Prime Minister  whose belief in Israel is indestructible.”</p>
<p>What a ridiculous  commitment for a British prime minister to make to a lawless, racist  state that respects nobody’s human rights, continually defies  international law and shoots children for amusement (see ‘The methodical  shooting of boys at work in Gaza by snipers of the Israeli Occupation  Force’, a horrific article by surgeon David Halpin).</p>
<p>It is a  disgrace that the Conservatives, who were not given a clear mandate to  govern, nevertheless vomit their infatuation with the thuggish Israeli  regime all over their much more level-headed coalition partners (the  Liberal Democrats), the whole British nation and the Arab world.</p>
<p><strong>Burt&#8217;s Indoctrination</strong></p>
<p>In  a speech to the Board of Jewish Deputies in London last year, Burt told  his audience he had worked from the age of fifteen for an MP who was a  president of the Board and founder of the Conservative Friends of  Israel, and how this “had a lasting effect upon me, and on my interests  in Parliament”.</p>
<p>He said: &#8220;Israel is an important strategic partner  and friend for the UK and we share a number of important shared  objectives across a broad range of policy areas.”</p>
<p>Offhand, can anybody think of a single objective they would wish to share with those people?</p>
<p>On  the Israeli-Palestinian conflict he said that “without an agreement  between the Palestinians and the Israelis then peace in the Middle East  is unobtainable”.</p>
<p>He added, apparently oblivious to the irony of  his remarks: “Those who are enemies of peace will continue to use the  conflict for their own purposes… We cannot allow those who want to  pursue a violent agenda to succeed… As a friend to both sides, we are  committed to a two state solution and we will continue to support the  efforts of the US to broker a peace deal between both sides.</p>
<p>“And  as an honest broker, the UK Government does not believe that economic  sanctions or embargoes on Israel [are] the way to engage or to influence  it.”</p>
<p>The “friend to both sides” and “honest broker” he refers to  has been happy to use economic sanctions to collectively punish the  Gazans, who are no threat to us, and thinks nothing of threatening the  Iranians, who are no threat to us. Why so queasy about doing the same to  Israel, which is a threat to everyone? All else has failed. Could it be  that Mr Burt is actually no more interested in peace than the Israelis?</p>
<p>“And I know some of you here are concerned about Universal  Jurisdiction&#8230;. We have prioritised resolving this and look to see  legislation introduced to Parliament…”</p>
<p>His eagerness to sabotage  the Geneva Convention’s principle of Universal Jurisdiction so that  suspected Israeli war criminals can walk the streets of London without  fear of arrest, reflects his party’s eagerness to appease the whining of  the psychopaths.</p>
<p>Needless to say the Jewish Chronicle was  ecstatic about Burt’s appointment as a Foreign Office minister, which it  said sent &#8220;as clear a message as possible about the direction of the  new government in the region. Mr Burt is listed as an officer in the  parliamentary group of Conservative Friends of Israel and has been  passionate in campaigning for visiting rights to Gilad Shalit, the  Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas for the past four years&#8230; The  appointment of Mr Burt and Mr Lidington will be seen as an attempt to  distance the Foreign Office from its Arabist, ‘Camel Corps’ reputation.”</p>
<p>The  JC continued: “Mr Burt will have to work hard within the Arab world to  build credibility and prove that he is an honest broker. He will not be  helped by his commitment to the Evangelical Christian movement.&#8221;</p>
<p>Burt’s  deep concern for Shalit, whose capture and detention he calls  “outrageous” while ignoring the thousands of Palestinian civilians  (including women and children) abducted and left to rot in Israeli jails  without trial, wins him no credibility.</p>
<p>At the Jerusalem Post  they were rubbing their hands in glee. The director of the Conservative  Friends of Israel called Burt’s appointment excellent news. “I have  traveled to Israel with Alistair on numerous occasions. He has an  excellent knowledge and understanding of the complex issues of the  region and is well-placed to approach the brief with the balance and  fairness it requires.”</p>
<p>London Muslim, on his blog, confessed he  had been “under the impression that one of the qualities needed to be a  Minister in the FCO was that you championed Britain rather than a  foreign government that practices Apartheid and fakes British passports  before carrying out assassinations. My impression was also that when  MP&#8217;s take the oath&#8230; they swear allegiance to Liz [Queen Elizabeth] and  her heirs not Israel.</p>
<p>“Burt is a Christian Evangelical who like  many of his eschatology ilk particularly in America will be hoping for  Armageddon in the Middle East”.</p>
<p>Yes, let’s hang on to that bleak thought.</p>
<p><strong>Ditching Law and Justice for Lopsided &#8216;Negotiation&#8217; </strong></p>
<p>Stopping  off in Jordan, Burt announced that Britain would not recognise a  Palestinian state unless it emerged from a peace deal with Israel.  London could “not recognise a state that does not have a capital, and  doesn’t have borders.&#8221;</p>
<p>London recognizes Israel. Where does Burt  suppose Israel’s borders are? And is Israel sitting inside them? Where  does he think Israel’s capital is? And where does Israel claim it to be?  In other words, is Israel where Israel is supposed to be, within  internationally defined borders? If not, how could he possibly recognise  it let alone align himself with it?</p>
<p>Burt had talked the previous  day about a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem  as its capital. In the space of a few short hours he seemed to have  completely lost the plot.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are looking forward to recognising a  Palestinian state at the end of the negotiations on settlements because  our position is again very straightforward: We wish to see a two-state  solution, a secure and recognized Israel side by side with a viable  Palestine, Jerusalem as a joint capital and agreed borders,&#8221; Burt said.</p>
<p>Negotiations  about illegal settlements? Since when did Her Majesty’s Government  negotiate over criminal acts and crimes against humanity? Unless of  course Alistair Burt is now answering to Queen Hillary Clinton, who has  rejected in advance an anticipated Palestinian resolution in the UN  condemning unlawful Israeli settlement building. Queen Hillary says the  issue of illegal squats can be resolved through “negotiations” between  Palestinians and Israelis and to hell with international law. Mr Burt  obliges by chiming sweetly with this conspiracy. &#8220;That’s where we want  to get to. When we get there, that of course will imply recognition of a  state of Palestine.&#8221;</p>
<p>Many people are betting that, compared to  the borders already defined by law and UN resolution, any “negotiated”  solution will be worth diddly-squat.</p>
<p>As for a unilateral  declaration of independence by the Palestinians, he said it would mean  ambiguity on crucial issues like the capital of the state, its borders  and the fate of refugees.</p>
<p>Again, Mr Burt hasn’t been paying  attention. These things were ruled on long ago. But instead of enforcing  international law and upholding justice, as he should, he co-operates  with the most dishonest peace brokers on the planet to revive  discredited, lopsided talks between dispossessed victim and criminal  occupier. Where’s the honour in that?</p>
<p><strong>Aiming to Grab Gaza’s Gas Too</strong></p>
<p>And  talking of boundary recognition, where does Mr Burt suppose the  Palestinian state’s offshore boundaries are? Huge reserves of marine gas  and oil have been found in the Levantine Basin, which comprises Israel,  the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and their territorial waters.</p>
<p>In  a report by Manlio Dinucci, the Israeli government with Washington’s  backing considers it is entitled to all the energy reserves.</p>
<p>A  coastal state may exploit offshore gas and oil reserves within a zone  extending 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the shore, so the  Palestinian Authority also has a claim. According to the map drawn up by  the US Geological Survey, the major portion of the gas deposits (around  60%) lie in the waters and territory belonging to Gaza, so we can  expect the US-Israeli ‘Axis of Greed’ to ruthlessly exploit the  Palestinians’ disunity and deprive them of their natural resource, just  like they’ve stolen their water.</p>
<p>If the Israelis plan to grab the lot “with Washington’s backing”, is London signed up to this act of grand larceny too?</p>
<p>The  question for many years has been: will Gaza ever get a whiff of its own  gas? What does Mr Burt, wearing the British government’s “honest  broker” hat, say?</p>
<p><em>&#8211; Stuart Littlewood is author of the book  Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under  occupation. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.  Visit: </em><a href="http://www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk/"><em>www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk</em></a><em>.</em></td>
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<p><a href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16572">London&#8217;s Foreign Office Might as Well Relocate to Tel Aviv</a>.</p>
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