Former leaders warn of threat to future Palestinian state

Two former heads of government from the Elders group of international figures founded by Nelson Mandela warned on Friday that the Palestinian territories could disappear and called for an end to what they described as Israeli impunity.

Former Ireland president Mary Robinson and former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark made the call after visiting Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan and Lebanon.

In a statement, they said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was seeking to make Palestine disappear physically, economically, culturally and politically.

Speaking to journalists in Jerusalem on Thursday, they said the international community should do more to end Israeli impunity in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Palestinians seek as the future capital of a sovereign state.

Clark said the main message they had heard from civil society in the West Bank and Jerusalem was a demand for accountability and no impunity.

Robinson said she was ashamed that the European Union had not taken a firmer position. She called for Brussels to suspend the trade component of its association agreement with Israel and to ban trade in products from Israeli settlements.

The two former leaders said they had seen a severe deterioration in the West Bank since an earlier mission in 2023. They warned that continued settlement expansion would result in Palestine disappearing before their eyes.

According to Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, Netanyahu’s government has approved the establishment of 102 settlements in the West Bank since taking office. The United Nations has reported a sharp rise in settler violence since the start of the Gaza war in 2023, while some Israeli ministers continue to call for the annexation of all or part of the occupied West Bank.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, among about three million Palestinians. The source states that all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

During their visit, Robinson and Clark met Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Robinson said they disagreed on a number of points.