Two leaders warn of threat to future Palestinian state

Jerusalem, Undefined: Two former heads of government from the Elders group of international figures founded by Nelson Mandela on Friday warned of the potential disappearance of the Palestinian territories and called for an end to what they called Israeli “impunity”.

The call from former Ireland president Mary Robinson and ex-New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark comes after they visited Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan and Lebanon.

They said in a statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was seeking “to make Palestine disappear physically, economically, culturally and politically.”

Speaking to journalists in Jerusalem on Thursday, they said the international community must do more to end Israeli “impunity” in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Palestinians seek as the future capital of a sovereign state.

“I think if we were to summarise the key message that we’ve heard across civil society, both in the West Bank and here, as to what are they looking for, it’s accountability and no impunity,” said Clark.

Robinson said she was “ashamed” that the European Union had not taken a firmer stance on the issue, calling for Brussels to suspend the trade component of its association agreement with Israel and to ban the trade of products from Israeli settlements.

The pair said they had observed a deterioration of the situation in the West Bank since a previous mission in 2023, and warned that continued settlement expansion would result in “Palestine disappearing before our eyes.”

Once unthinkable vote: Over 100 House Democrats back cutting Israel aid

Since taking office, Netanyahu’s government has approved the establishment of 102 settlements in the West Bank, according to Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now.

And since the Gaza war began in 2023 with Hamas’s attack on Israel, the United Nations has reported a sharp rise in settler violence, while some Israeli ministers call for the annexation of all or part of the West Bank.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, among some three million Palestinians.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

During their visit, the former leaders met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

“We disagreed on a number of points,” said Robinson.

“During their meeting, President Herzog categorically rejected their one-sided criticism of Israel’s conduct during this war,” the Israeli presidency’s spokesman told AFP.