https://arab.news/mupj6
- Labour MPs part of delegation to assess dire health conditions
- Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley are both experienced doctors
LONDON: Two British Labour MPs claim they were blocked from entering Israel while travelling as part of a parliamentary delegation to the occupied West Bank.
According to media reports on Tuesday, Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were due to meet UK diplomats in Jerusalem this week as well as Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations. Their visit was organized by the Council for Arab-British Understanding.
In a statement on Tuesday, Opher’s office said the purpose of the trip was to “enable members of parliament to witness the vital medical and humanitarian work of a range of organizations including Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in the occupied West Bank.”
The statement continued: “It is deeply regrettable that Israeli authorities prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region and from hearing the British government’s assessment of the situation on the ground.”
Opher, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Health and was previously a full-time doctor in Dursley, has since returned to the UK from Jordan.
Prinsley, a surgeon with three decades’ experience in the NHS, had also planned to take part in the delegation.
The move follows similar incidents earlier this year. In April, Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were denied entry into Israel and deported back to the UK.
At the time, the Israeli Immigration Ministry claimed the two were suspected of intending to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred.”
The decision drew criticism from then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said: “It is unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning that two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation to Israel have been detained and refused entry by the Israeli authorities.”
Yang and Mohamed said in a joint statement following their deportation: “We’re astounded at the unprecedented step taken by the Israeli authorities to refuse British MPs entry on our trip to visit the occupied West Bank. It is vital that parliamentarians are able to witness first hand the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
They continued: “We are two out of scores of MPs who have spoken out in parliament in recent months on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the importance of complying with international humanitarian law. Parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthfully in the House of Commons without fear of being targeted.
“We had come on an MPs’ delegation to visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank with UK charity partners who have over a decade of experience in taking parliamentary delegations.”
The controversy comes as the Israeli regime pushed ahead on Tuesday with a major ground offensive in Gaza City, which has drawn sharp international criticism.