LONDON: Israel is acting as if it is above the law, four of the most senior Church of England bishops said in a letter about state and settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
The bishops added that there is now “little distinction between settler violence and state violence,” The Guardian reported on Saturday.
“There has been a drastic acceleration and intensification of settlement construction, land confiscation and home demolition in the West Bank, exacerbating longstanding patterns of oppression, violence and discrimination against Palestinians,” they said in the letter.
“There has always been a close relationship between successive Israeli governments and the settler movement, but there now seems to be little distinction between settler violence and state violence.”
The bishops demanded that the Israeli government “stop acting as if it is uniquely above the law.”
They said the UN General Assembly’s call last week for Israel to end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories “can’t be another false dawn.”
The UN must “move beyond strong words and agree a robust set of measures to ensure Israel’s compliance” with international law, they added.
The UNGA strongly supported a non-binding Palestinian resolution on Wednesday demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year.
While the resolution is not legally binding, the extent of its support reflects world opinion.
The resolution also demands the withdrawal of all Israeli forces and the evacuation of settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territories “without delay.”
It urges countries to impose sanctions on those responsible for maintaining Israel’s presence in the territories and halt arms exports if weapons are suspected of being used there.
The letter’s signatories were Rachel Treweek, the bishop of Gloucester; Guli Francis-Dehqani, bishop of Chelmsford; Graham Usher, bishop of Norwich; and Christopher Chessun, bishop of Southwark.
