UK’s Hague ‘disappointed’ to slam Israel

The British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said he is “disappointed” about his condemning the expansion of the Israeli regime’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. “I am disappointed to release a statement on renewed Israeli settlement activity. As the Occupying Power of the Palestinian Territories, the Israeli government has an absolute requirement to uphold international law and to fulfill its commitments. It is important that we voice our concerns when the Israeli government fails to do so,” read Hague’s statement on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) official website. Hague expressed his disappointment over the release of his condemning statement after the Israeli regime announced plans for further expanding its illegal settlement in Har Homa neighborhood in east al-Quds (Jerusalem) by building 827 settler units. “I condemn the decision to publish tenders for 872 units in the Israeli settlement of Har Homa,” said Hague in his statement. “The Israeli government's policy is illegal under international law, counter-productive, de-stabilizing and provocative,” he added. However, as a member of Britain’s Conservative Friends of Israel, Hague stressed the importance of Britain’s support for the Israeli regime saying “It is also important that we support Israel.” Writing for Redress Information and Analysis, an independent website dedicated to exposing injustice, British writer and photographer Stuart Littlewood slammed Britain’s “cozying up to and taking its cue from Israel, a criminal, aggressive state,” as described by the website. Littlewood described the FCO’s statement reading “we do not hesitate to express disagreement to Israel where we feel necessary” as “claptrap” and said the British government is committed to the interests of Israel instead of “us the British people.” “The UK government takes no action whatever to hold the Israelis to account. On the contrary, it continues rewarding their endless crime-sprees and recently relaxed our Universal Jurisdiction laws to protect Israel’s war criminals from arrest,” said Littlewood.