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Boris Johnson: Israel’s sovereignty plan breaches international law

The United Kingdom “strongly objects” to Israel’s plan to extend its law to parts of Judea and Samaria, and “believes profoundly in a two-state solution,” says the British prime minister.

Boris Johnson. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Boris Johnson. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley, and parts of Judea and Samaria, constitutes a violation of international law.

Responding to a question from a member of parliament from his own Conservative Party during the weekly Prime Minister’s Question Time, Johnson said: “I believe that what is proposed by Israel would amount to a breach of international law, and we strongly object to it, and we believe profoundly in a two-state solution and will continue to make that case.”

When pressed by MP Crispin Blunt as to whether there would be sanctions against Israel should it move forward with its sovereignty plan, the prime minister was noncommittal.

Blunt was one of 130 British parliamentarians who signed a letter to Johnson in May urging him to impose sanctions on Israel if it moved ahead with its sovereignty plan.

The initiative was organized by the Council for Arab British Understanding and claimed that the plan was “as a mortal blow to the chances of peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on any viable two-state solution.”

The State Department weighed in, as the United Nations Security Council readies for its third straw poll to pick the new secretary-general.
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