Dear ____,

I am writing to request your urgent intervention to help stop the Israeli authorities’ planned eviction of over 1,000 Palestinians from the East Jerusalem town of Silwan. Last week demolition orders were posted on houses in Silwan's al-Bustan neighbourhood, in advance of what would be the largest single mass demolition since 1967, to make room for a tourist attraction. Families who have lived in the neighbourhood for generations would lose their homes and be left with nothing.

On 30 December Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt MP said “I condemn the decision by the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee to build additional structures in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan.... This is another provocative and deeply counter-productive step, the latest in a series by the Israeli authorities.” He is right that there can be no prospect of peace in the region as long as the cycle of demolition and settlement continues.

However, the UK continues to afford Israel preferential trade terms through the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Unsurprisingly the Israeli government takes that formal status, and the absence of any concrete action in relation to Mr Burt’s comments, as a signal that Britain tacitly condones its actions, and that our government’s expressions of concern are mere words.

The Association Agreement comes up for review this month, in the annual meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council. Please urge Foreign Secretary William Hague MP to oppose any upgrade of the EU’s economic and political relations with Israel at that meeting. Please ask him to give the British people confidence that the government’s statements are intended to be taken seriously, by indicating what consequences will follow if they are ignored.

Thank you for urgently raising my concerns with Mr Hague.

Yours sincerely,