Alan Duncan backs down after [correctly] accusing Israelis of 'land grab'
The international development minister, Alan Duncan, has been forced to remove a video from a government website in which he accused Israelis of a “land grab” in the middle-east, after protests from Jewish leaders.
The minister made his remarks in a recording during a visit to the region earlier this year. He announced British aid to support primary education for 35,000 Palestinian children, help to create 8,000 jobs in the area and “direct payments” to 215,000 people so they can buy food, medicine and other essentials. Mr Duncan, Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton, also accused Israeli settlers of “deliberately” taking water away from the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. In the video, Mr Duncan declared:
“The wall is a land grab. It hasn't just gone along the lines of the proper Israel boundary. “It's taken in open land which actually belongs to Palestine. Israeli settlers can build what they want and then immediately get the infrastructure so that takes the water deliberately away from Palestinians here.”
The Board of Deputies wrote to Mr Duncan – and the Foreign Secretary William Hague - and demanded that he take the video down. Shortly afterwards, the footage was removed.