I am extremely concerned about the situation affecting the Sumarin family, and their ongoing eviction from their home in East Jerusalem.
I have been following this ongoing case closely and was extremely disappointed to learn that the Israeli Attorney General ruled that the eviction can go ahead.
This is an important case because the Jewish National Fund (JNF) applied for the home to be declared an “absentee’s property” first in 1987, despite the family being in residence – and eviction claims have been brought repeatedly against the Sumarin family since 1991 on this basis.
I signed a parliamentary motion (#EDM529) opposing the use of the Absentee Property Law to dispossess the Sumarins and other Palestinians. This also called on the UK Government to raise the case of the Sumarin family with Israel and asks the Charity Commission to review the charitable status of the JNF in the UK due to its involvement in the eviction.
I was elected on a manifesto that recognised that “there can be no military solution” to this “conflict, which must be settled on the basis of justice and international law” and committed to “reform the international rules-based order to secure justice and accountability for breaches of human rights and international law”. I stand by those commitments.
The UK Government must put pressure on the Government of Israel to end these evictions, end the oppression of the Palestinian people, and take steps towards a lasting peace.
I speak out on this subject very often and there are so very many families in Israel suffering in this way; I will continue to do what I can to raise their profile.
