Will Key condemn Israel’s settlement construction and home demolition in Syria? – Auckland Palestine Human Rights Campaign

A New Zealand Government Press Release,dated 12 September 2016, states that New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, will be travelling to New York for Leader’s Week,to “chair a Leader-level meeting of the Security Council aimed at focusing international attention on the conflict in Syria.”

Will John Key raise the question of Israel’s violations of international law, including the demolitions of homes and settlement building in Syria because, so far, the New Zealand Government has been silent on the subject. Tel Aviv has declared that Israel and the Golan are “part and parcel” and that the international community should get used to the fact. Israel is annexing the Syrian territory because, among other reasons, it holds major energy reserves that the Zionist state covets. The first home demolition took place last Wednesday and Al Marsad, the only human rights organisation in the Golan, reported that hundreds of Israeli police, accompanied by bulldozers, demolished the home of Bassam Ibrahim in Majdal Shams, the largest town in the Israeli-Occupied Syrian territory. Israel is pushing ahead with illegal settlement construction in the area. None of the Security Council’s members have taken any steps to require Israel to stop violating international law and their silence simply emboldens Israel.

Leslie Bravery, Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Auckland www.palestine.org.nz