Calls grow for UK probe into London Israeli settlement fair

Calls are mounting for an investigation after a London property fair marketed homes in Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land, despite weeks of warnings from politicians, lawyers and human rights groups.

The Great Israeli Real Estate Event, held on Sunday at Edgware United Synagogue, is facing demands for official scrutiny after activists obtained brochures and promotional materials advertising properties in settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The settlements featured at the event are considered illegal under international law, and the fair facilitated the marketing and sale of property built on land stolen from Palestinians while helping normalise Israel’s settlement project in occupied territory.

The controversy has intensified following exclusive comments to The New Arab from politicians and campaigners demanding an official investigation into whether laws were broken and why authorities allowed the event to proceed despite weeks of warnings.

“It is beyond disgraceful that this event was allowed to go ahead,” former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told The New Arab. “Once again, the government has exposed its flagrant contempt for international law as well as its own cowardice toward Israel’s illegal occupation.”

Corbyn said campaigners had repeatedly warned ministers that occupied Palestinian land would be marketed at the event.

“We warned the government that Israel was selling occupied Palestinian land to the highest bidder. And that is exactly what happened.”

The controversy comes after more than 100 MPs and peers, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Amnesty International and a coalition of campaign groups called for the event to be cancelled before it took place.

“It is utterly shameful that this event was allowed to go ahead in London,” Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski told The New Arab.

Polanski described it as “extraordinary” that an event linked to the sale and marketing of property in illegal settlements was able to proceed despite widespread opposition from politicians, lawyers and human rights organisations.

“Londoners are right to be outraged and to ask how this was allowed to happen,” he said.

Before the event, Polanski wrote to Khan urging him to pressure the government to stop an “unlawful” gathering.

He also called for the Metropolitan Police to investigate the event over the potential unlawful sale of property.

“Evidence of unlawful activity must be referred to the Metropolitan Police Service immediately for investigation,” he said. “Anything less would send the message that there is one rule for some and another for everyone else.”

“London cannot become a safe haven for activity that undermines international law,” he warned.

The Foreign Office directed The New Arab to comments made by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in Parliament on Tuesday, where she said that if there was evidence of the advertising or promotion of property in illegal settlements, the government would ensure that relevant laws, regulations and guidance were upheld. 

Campaigners argue that such evidence has now emerged.

Green Party Westminster leader Ellie Chowns and Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller also raised concerns about the event in Parliament on Monday.

“The UK Government cannot continue to fail in our legal and moral obligations in regard to illegal settlements. It is time to take genuine action to prevent and punish these crimes,” Chowns told The New Arab.

“Ban all trade with illegal settlements, impose comprehensive sanctions on all Israeli government officials responsible for authorising settlement expansion and human rights abuses against Palestinians, and support justice mechanisms for victims,” she said.

“Any event that sought to market and sell land in these illegal settlements should never have been permitted to take place in the UK,” she added.

The event was met with protests organised by the Palestinian Youth Movement and coalition groups, which warned that the organisers were facilitating the sale of property on stolen Palestinian land.

“The fact that The Great Israeli Real Estate Event went ahead on Sunday despite calls for its cancellation from parliamentarians, human rights organisations, legal organisations, grassroots and civil society organisations is a disgrace,” Jeanine Hourani, an organiser with the Palestinian Youth Movement, told The New Arab.

“The UK government cannot continue to make empty claims about sanctions while allowing the marketing of properties built on stolen Palestinian land to occur on British soil,” she said.

“There must be an immediate investigation into the event and concrete action to ensure that this never happens again,” she added.

The Great Israeli Real Estate Event is held annually and promotes property developments in Israel and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Similar fairs have previously taken place in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

Evidence gathered inside event

Multiple activists who attended Sunday’s event obtained photographs and videos that they say show settlement properties being marketed to prospective buyers.

Among the developments featured were properties in Ramat Eshkol and French Hill in occupied East Jerusalem, marketed by Jerusalem Real Estate; Givat Hamatos and Ramat Eshkol, listed by Tivuch Shelly; Kfar Eldad and Teneh Omarim by Harey Zahav Developers; and Givat Zeev and Ma’ale Adumim by Yigal Realty.

A spokesperson for Jewish Anti-Zionist Action, whose members attended the event undercover and helped identify its location, said the group had been documenting similar events to expose settlement-linked activity.

“We refuse to allow support for settlement expansion and land theft to be presented as a Jewish communal interest and we reject the conflation of Judaism with a political project built upon the dispossession of another people,” the spokesperson told The New Arab.

The group said its activists entered the event to gather evidence of what was being promoted and sold.

Zena Agha, interim director of the British Palestinian Committee, said the event should never have been allowed to proceed.

“Sunday’s event was clearly unlawful and immoral. On British soil, it advanced Israeli colonial expansion on Palestinian land,” she told The New Arab. “Now the event has passed, the government must explain why it did not cancel the event despite evidence that property in illegal settlements would be promoted and amid extensive public and parliamentary pressure.

“Now is the time for action. The Metropolitan Police decided not to investigate the event and the thuggery that accompanied it. At a minimum, there should be a judicial review into the decision to ensure that no event like this ever takes place here again,” she said.

“Altogether, it is a stark reminder of the corruption, racism and rot at the heart of the British-Israeli relationship, the spoils of which are Palestinian life, land and self-determination,” she added.

Following the event, where protesters reported being assaulted and several people were arrested, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians filed a complaint with the Charity Commission against Edgware United Synagogue for hosting the fair.

In its complaint, the organisation formally requested that the commission open a regulatory compliance case into the synagogue and its trustees.