Letter: Thank you ICN, for your objectivity

Shireen Abu Aqleh - Wiki Image

Dear Editor,

Thank you most deeply for your coverage of Israel/Palestine, and particularly for reporting on the first anniversary of the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh by an Israeli soldier. ( See: ICN 10 May 2023 - Call for action and prayers on Shireen Abu Akleh anniversary www.indcatholicnews.com/news/47128 ) - The Government of Israel has ignored repeated calls for an independent investigation into her tragic death.

Israel is unique in claiming to be the only Western-style democracy in the region. That claim alone justifies the scrutiny which Israel rightly faces when it breaches international law, as it does daily by planning, subsidising and supporting illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, which with Gaza forms the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The letter-writer mentions the San Remo treaty of 1922. That treaty had as its legal base the Covenant of the League of Nations, which (Article 22) gave to the Palestinian people the right to self-determination. The British Mandate power denied them that right. Our UK Government has still not yet recognised the state of Palestine alongside Israel - and it should do so immediately, to demonstrate parity of esteem for both peoples. If the UK truly believes in a two-state solution, it must surely recognise both states, or face criticism for hypocrisy: saying one thing and doing another.

Palestine is a state recognised by over 130 UN member states - two thirds of the 193 members. The assertion that Palestine is not a state is wrong. It is a state under military occupation for the last 56 years.

The letter-writer and I agree that there is only one God. We are all equal in His eyes. My God is not an estate agent, promising territory to one people or another. He is compassionate, and just. The world is neither of those things - but we have a duty to speak out where we see blatant injustice perpetuated. Thank you, Independent Catholic News, for doing just that.

Sir Vincent Fean
Vice- Chair of The Balfour Project Charity and former British Consul General to Jerusalem.