UK Rights Report: Israel A 'Country Of Concern'

[Purveyor]

LONDON - Israel has been featured in a quarterly report on Human Rights and Democracy released by the British Foreign Office on Thursday, alongside serial human rights offenders Iran, Bahrain and Belarus. The foreign office identified the Jewish State as a "country of concern," making a special mention of the recent Gaza escalation, Israeli settlement policy and the Israel government's withholding of Palestinian custom revenues.

Israel’s inclusion on the list of 28 countries perpetrating violations is likely to cause its incoming government some concern, in light of its close British ally’s repeated cautions in recent months that Israel’s “illegal” pursuit of settlement expansion risks alienating its international allies.

The update of the climate between October and December 2012 concluded that despite Hamas receiving widespread condemnation from foreign leaders at the time of November’s escalation for instigating the exchange of hostilities, “the violence has resulted in a number of humanitarian needs, including a worsening of the already precarious humanitarian situation in Gaza”.

On the issue of Israel’s contentious settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the report recalled British Foreign Minister William Hague’s warnings that the continued policy “undermines trust between the parties” as it “constitutes a serious provocation and an obstacle to peace.” It further concluded that the planned expansions “would have an impact on the economic development, transport links and the ability of the Palestinian Authority to deliver services to its citizens,” as well as displacing Palestinians from the region.

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http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=300924

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

1. Why would this worry israel in the slightest?

They don't take any condemnation seriously IMHO, and the only thing that might get their hackles up is that they are named with Iran as human rights offenders.