British Foreign Office files from 2002 reveal that London already viewed Israel's actions in the occupied West Bank as a pattern of human rights abuses, according to documents released in 2024 and reported by Declassified UK. The files, written during Tony Blair's administration, describe a systematic pattern of violations by a state that the UK would continue to arm for the next two decades.

In March 2002, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon launched Operation Defensive Shield, killing over 500 Palestinians in a single month, mostly civilians, and injuring 1,500. A Foreign Office official wrote of a "pattern" of "human rights abuses." A senior British army officer called the Israeli military a "second-rate, ill-disciplined, swaggering and bullying force," noting routine excessive force, including firing at stone throwers and ambulances being blocked from reaching the wounded.

Lord Michael Levy, Blair's special envoy, warned Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer that there was no military solution and the campaign would only produce more suicide bombers. The files also record Red Cross staff threatened at gunpoint and ambulances denied access to the wounded. The World Health Organization has documented 3,254 Israeli attacks on healthcare over 20 years, with more than half occurring in the past three years.

Despite this knowledge, UK action has diminished over time. In 2002, Britain secretly halted arms exports to Israel briefly. But subsequent governments did far less: Gordon Brown revoked some licences in 2008-2009, David Cameron identified 12 for suspension in 2014, and Keir Starmer's government suspended only 30 of 350 arms licences in 2024. Campaign groups reported thousands of munitions still reaching Israel. The death toll in Gaza now stands at 73,658 Palestinians, including 21,500 children.

This month, the UK and 11 other countries backed restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, hinting at a possible break from the past. However, the UK's newly seated leadership has referred to Israel's actions as "a stain on the conscience of the world," while Blair sits on the Board of Peace presiding over Gaza.

Source: www.aljazeera.com