AN EVESHAM minister has called on the UK government to sanction Israel following his recent visit to the West Bank.
Rev David Haslam MBE from Evesham Methodist Church, witnessed the impact of illegal settlers harassing and forcing Palestinian communities out of their homes, in what he described as a “creeping genocide” last November.
The long-time anti-apartheid activist was the guest speaker in a talk organised by the Worcester Palestine Solidarity Campaign at St Andrew’s Church in Worcester, January 22.
Rev David Haslam MBE. s
Titled ‘Stories from the West Bank’, Rev Haslam showed the audience images of checkpoints, apartheid walls, destroyed farmland, and stolen water pipes depicting the harsh reality of life for Palestinians.
One stop on the trip was to a Bedouin village, where a water pipe previously belonging to the Palestinian community had been extracted from the aquifer and used to supply illegal Israeli settlements instead.
Having no access to the water, families were forced to ship it in.
Showing images of the surrounding areas, Rev Haslam said: “Houses were already deserted, especially those nearest the road, because that’s where the settlers come and harass people.”
Rev Haslam also visited Jenin refugee camp, where last year, 19,000 residents were forcibly removed with no hope of return.
He spoke to the women currently being housed there, who were living in a hall which was housing 500 people into 77 single rooms.
“It’s just deliberate torture, mental and psychological torture,” he added.
An Israeli checkpoint. s
He was in the West Bank because of attending a conference organised by Global Kairos for Justice, an international Christian movement for the freedom and dignity of Palestinians with representatives from 23 countries.
“They also took us out into the West Bank on ‘exposure visits’, even to dangerous places, to show us what is going on. It was a very troubling experience,” he told the Observer.
After the talk a petition to the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, calling for diplomatic, trade and financial sanctions on the Israeli government and all forcibly displaced persons to be reinstated in their homes was signed.
Rev Haslam said: “We do not believe that the state of Palestine is a possibility without serious sanctions, as with South Africa. [Sanctions] will bring about change.
“At the moment our government and other Western governments are utterly pathetic in this respect.”
