The Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) has welcomed the report by the International Development Select Committee into the Humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and Gaza.
CAABU welcomes the call by the report for "the UK Government to propose to the EU Council of Trade Ministers that Israel's preferential terms of trade with the EU be suspended until it lifts the movement restrictions which it has placed on Palestinian trade". CAABU also believes there is also grounds to suspend this agreement in line with Article two, which requires Israel to abide by human rights standards.
CAABU Executive member Lord Redesdale welcomed the report adding that "we now must hope that the Government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the British Government act on its conclusions to help alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians"
CAABU Director Chris Doyle said "The humanitarian crisis has been largely engineered by the Israeli policies in the Occupied Territories. They must bear responsibility. The British Government must also bear its responsibilities and do all it can to pressure Israel into ending its repressive policies and this must include, as the report recommends, suspending the EU-Israel Trade Association Agreement." — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
