In a joint statement, the two MPs said it was “deeply regrettable” that Israel had “prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region”.
OCCUPIED WEST BANK — Two British MPs who were travelling to the occupied West Bank said Israel denied them entry, preventing them from “seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region”.
Labour politicians Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were travelling in a parliamentary delegation to see medical and humanitarian work being carried out by organisations including Medical Aid for Palestinians.
In a joint statement, the two MPs said it was “deeply regrettable” that Israel had “prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region”.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said: “It is totally unacceptable and deeply concerning that yet again two British MPs have been denied entry to the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel.”
“Minister [Hamish] Falconer and officials have remained in contact with the MPs affected throughout. We are clear with Israel that this is no way to treat British Parliamentarians.”
The two MPs were crossing into Israel from Jordan on Monday on a three-day visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) when they were stopped by Israeli occupation authorities.
Opher said they were held in a passport office before being handed a “legal form insisting that we leave the country” and then “escorted to a bus” back to Jordan.
The Stroud MP said he was told they were not being admitted on “public order” grounds and that representations from the Foreign Office to Israeli occupation authorities had been rejected.
He said: “It’s very disappointing. We are both doctors and we were really just going to look at healthcare facilities in the West Bank to see if there was anything we could do to support them.”
“We weren’t in any way trying to undermine the Israelis, just trying to see what we could do in the West Bank” where, he said, they had been told healthcare was getting increasingly difficult.
They had also been due to meet the British Consul General in Jerusalem as part of the visit, as well as meeting Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations.
Earlier this year, two other Labour MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, were also denied entry by Israel in April on another visit organised by the same organisation.
At the time, Israel said the two MPs had “accused Israel of false claims” and were “actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers”.
Mohamed and Yang said: ““We are two out of scores of MPs who have spoken out in parliament in recent months on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the importance of complying with international humanitarian law. Parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthfully in the House of Commons without fear of being targeted.”
The then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the move by Israel as “unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning”.
In February, Mohamed initiated a cross-party letter, signed by 61 MPs and lords, calling for a ban on goods from Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory, citing an opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
She has also criticised Israel for blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, telling the House of Commons in October that international law “prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”, and has mentioned humanitarian organisations’ claims of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.
In January, Yang spoke in favour of bringing sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, after they suggested building Israeli settlements in northern Gaza and forcibly displacing Palestinians .
She has also highlighted the dangerous conditions journalists and medical professionals face while in the Palestinian territory under Israeli assault. — QNN
