A group of around 100 former diplomats and ambassadors from France and the United Kingdom published, this Saturday (22), a letter in the French newspaper The World in which they condemn the “ethnic cleansing” carried out by Israel in Palestine. They defend coordinated action by the two countries to enforce international law in Palestine and avoid accusations of “double standards”.
These measures include supporting and implementing the decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC); the suspension of European Union and United Kingdom trade agreements with Israel due to human rights violations; an embargo on arms transfers and the end of bilateral military cooperation; the guarantee of unrestricted access for humanitarian aid to Gaza, in addition to the entry of journalists, diplomats and parliamentarians; and a ban on trade with Israeli settlements, including investment, insurance and financial services.
The letter also proposes measures against investors and institutions that finance or build settlements in occupied territories, including financial restrictions, criminalization of the purchase of property on confiscated Palestinian land and withdrawal of philanthropic status from organizations that finance settlements.
Although France and the United Kingdom have recognized the State of Palestine in 2025, the signatories state that it is urgent to transform this recognition into concrete measures in the face of the Israeli government’s policies, which, according to them, seek to make the creation of an independent Palestinian State unfeasible and demonstrate disrespect for ICJ decisions and UN Security Council resolutions. The authors also advocate democratic reforms in Palestinian leadership and the political and economic reunification of Gaza and the West Bank through elections.
Diplomats condemn the attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but say that these acts do not justify Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza. The group also criticizes the concept defended by Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel must “live by the sword”, arguing that this policy compromises Israeli security, destroys the conditions for future negotiations and weakens Israel’s image as a democracy.
The letter mentions more than 1,200 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire and states that, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, settler violence and home demolitions constitute a policy of “ethnic cleansing”. According to the signatories, the policy of occupation and destruction also extends to Lebanon and Syria.
Brazilian pressure
Last Thursday (20), the Brazilian government released a press release in which it classifies as a “flagrant violation of international law” the construction of a new settlement in the “E1” region, between East Jerusalem and Jericho, in the occupied West Bank. The announcement comes after the publication, on August 18, of a bidding notice for the construction of more than 1,200 housing units in that region.
“If the project is implemented, the West Bank would be divided into two parts — North and South — and East Jerusalem would be isolated from the rest of the occupied territory, further threatening the territorial contiguity of the State of Palestine and making the two-state solution unfeasible,” says an excerpt from the note.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
