Israel blocked UK foreign secretary from visiting Palestinian village terrorised by settlers
The belongings and remains of homes of Palestinian families in ‘Ein Samia, West Bank, 25 May 2023
Lubna Masarwa and Peter Oborne report in Middle East Eye:
Israeli authorities prevented British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly from visiting a Palestinian village that was recently emptied of its residents after years of Israeli settler violence, Middle East Eye can reveal.
Cleverly had planned to visit the West Bank village of Ein Samiya during his three-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in September, but multiple sources told MEE that Israeli authorities blocked the request, with Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt and Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin also prevented from travelling to the stricken village.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman told MEE on Tuesday that Israeli authorities “did not enable the British foreign minister to enter Ein Samiya, as well as the foreign minister of Norway and the foreign minister of Ireland.”
He explained that “the decision was made in consultation with security figures and it was decided not to permit them to arrive at these points.
“There are specific points they asked to visit and we thought this would lead to escalation,” he said. When asked what he meant by escalation, the spokesman replied “violence”.
Later, when questioned whether there were any changes to policy surrounding diplomatic visits to the West Bank, the spokesman replied: “we will look at each visit specifically.” “They [the ministers] visited Ramallah and so forth. At these specific points and at that specific time we thought it could lead to escalation,” he added.
No mention by Cleverly
Following his return to the UK, Cleverly made no reference to Israel’s restrictions to his itinerary despite the British government pouring taxpayer money into the West Bank, including an elementary school in Ein Samiya.
The school was destroyed in mid-August, shortly after more than 170 of Ein Samiya’s Palestinian residents fled following heightened settler attacks.