Leviev and the British Embassy in Tel Aviv

Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights sent the following letter:

Mr David Miliband MP
Foreign and Commonwealth Office     
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

Thursday 11 September 2008

RE: Renting Embassy Space in Tel Aviv from Settlement-builder Leviev

Dear Mr Miliband,

We are writing to you regarding our very serious concerns in connection with a report that HM Government has decided to rent three floors in the Kirya Tower in Tel Aviv from African-Israel Properties Ltd for use as the British embassy.

African-Israel Properties is chaired by Lev Leviev who acts as a major settlement builder and a major donor to the Land Redemption Fund which secures Palestinian land for exclusively Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Those settlements have been established and enlarged in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and in some cases involving grave breaches contrary to article 147 of that Convention.  To rent space from his company would be tantamount to condoning Israel’s settlement building, supporting clear violations of international law, in some cases amounting to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and hindering the possibility of peace in the Middle East. We consider that this constitutes precisely the kind of action that the ICJ Advisory Opinion points to as being in violation of the third party obligations to the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation – see para 159 of the Opinion of 9 July 2004:

“They [States] are also under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction.”

As Mr Leviev’s activities involve settlement building and the route of the wall is directly affected by his settlement building activities, to have an economic arrangement with him or his companies of any kind is indeed rendering aid and assistance in maintaining the construction described in the Advisory Opinion.

Further, if true, the FCO’s actions would run contrary to the message sent by Prime Minister Gordon Brown whilst in Ramallah in July 2008 that, “we want to see a freeze on settlements…[they] make peace harder to achieve…erode trust…[and] heighten Palestinian suffering”. The FCO must follow this policy and follow through on its practical and legal consequences.

Accordingly, please confirm that the FCO will not in fact rent embassy space from Mr Leviev or anyone engaged with furthering the development of illegal settlements on Palestinian land. In doing so, the FCO would be in good company: Oxfam and UNICEF have both rejected financial relations with Mr Leviev because of his companies’ settlement construction. In addition, HM Government would be acting in compliance with its declared policy objective of persuading Israel to end the construction of illegal settlements, promoting adherence to international human rights and humanitarian law and brokering a lasting peaceful solution for the Middle East.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Machover

Chair, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights