‘Unacceptable’: Protesters in London condemn sale of illegal land by Israel | Israel-Palestine War News

Demonstrators denounce the event promoting Israeli settlements, selling property as a violation of international law.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered in the British capital to protest sales promotion event for land and property in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Demonstrators outside the so-called “Great Israel Real Estate Event” in London on Sunday shouted slogans and held signs that read, “Stop selling to Israel stolen Palestinian land” and “Don’t steal”.

“We are here today protesting as Palestinians living in London, (saying) that we refuse to sell our land, our communities,” Jeanine Hourani, organizer of the Palestinian Youth Movement, told Al Jazeera at the meeting.

“We know that what is happening today is illegal under international law,” Hourani said.

The situation was tense when more police were deployed to the demonstrations, while a large group of anti-Israel protesters – some of whom shouted, “Palestine does not exist” – united in support of the event.

The Metropolitan Police said 15 people were arrested on “various criminal cases, including public safety issues”.

The event, which was organized by My Home, an Israeli real estate agency, was strongly criticized by human rights activists and politicians in the United Kingdom who urged the British government to ban it.

Cities of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory is prohibited under international law, by the International Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that the work of Israel was forbidden and must end.

About 100 British MPs, including members of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party, he signed the letter Friday urged the government to “maintain its obligations under international law” and ensure that an incident “promoting illegal activities does not take place”.

Layla Moran, Britain’s first Palestinian MP and one of the letter’s signatories, described the deal as “unacceptable”.

“It is a disgrace to British society and international law that this event was allowed to happen today,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The reality is that it shouldn’t be going on; the Metropolitan Police should have stopped it and if the laws are not there to do that, then we have to move quickly to stop this kind of trafficking on British soil,” Moran said.

The Jewish rights group, Jewish Anti-Zionist Action (JAZA), also condemned the incident in the London synagogue as “unconscionable”.

“For a synagogue to act in support of the Palestinian state’s continued control of Palestine by offering this ceremony for religious and cultural reasons is incomprehensible,” the group said.

The UK government did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Sunday.

In a statement to the press earlier this week, a government spokesman said that “Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and harm the prospects of two states”.

“Expansion in the West Bank is wrong. We will introduce new guidance in the coming days, giving UK businesses guidance on how to avoid businesses supporting these illegal settlements,” he said, according to The Guardian.