Former British and French diplomats urge action over Israel’s ‘erasure’ of Palestine

A coalition of 102 former French and British diplomats has called on their governments to jointly sanction Israel, warning in an open letter that Israeli policy in occupied Palestinian territory threatens to permanently erase the possibility of a Palestinian state. The letter, published on Saturday by French outlet Le Monde, urges France and the United Kingdom to "act together to uphold international law in Palestine" and to push for "equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians."

The signatories include former British ambassadors to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock and Emyr Jones Parry, and former French Middle East directors, Yves Aubin de la Messuziere and Denis Bauchard. Other signatories named by The Guardian include Edward Chaplin, a former Foreign Office director for the Middle East, and Patrice Paoli and Stanislas de Laboulaye, both former French diplomats with Middle East postings. The Guardian reported that the letter was signed by 52 French former diplomats and 50 British former ambassadors, many of whom served in the region in senior posts.

Letter's accusations

The letter accuses Israel of seeking to "destroy any prospect of an independent Palestinian state, showing contempt for the law, the rulings of the International Court of Justice and countless UN Security Council resolutions," as quoted by both France 24 and RFI. It describes Palestinian house demolitions and "rampant settler violence – with the connivance of the Israeli army and police" as amounting to "ethnic cleansing," and states that "The world no longer sees Israel as a genuine democracy."

Nicholas Hopton, a former UK ambassador to Iran, Qatar and Yemen and one of the signatories, told Al Jazeera that the strong language was not invented by the diplomats themselves. "The words are not our own," he said. "They are taken from the international legal bodies, the UN, those who have been observing from a neutral position and with expertise." Hopton identified Israel's renewed push to expand settlements in the West Bank as the more immediate trigger for the letter, and singled out the United States as the most consequential actor, saying it has the most influence over the actions of the Israeli government.

The letter also points to the historic roles of France and the UK in the Middle East, noting that both countries recognised a Palestinian state in 2025. It states: "Our two nations believe that those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity must be held to account. Only then can our governments rebut the accusation of double standards."

Calls for concrete measures

The letter urges specific policy steps, including a ban on arms transfers, a freeze on the EU-Israel association agreement and the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement, and a ban on trade with Israeli settlements, according to The Guardian. It also calls for measures to prevent citizens from purchasing property on occupied Palestinian land and for guaranteed humanitarian access through UNRWA. The Guardian reports the letter outlines seven policy steps in total, including warnings to bidders on the E1 settlement project and the removal of charitable status from organisations operating in settlements.

The letter also addresses Palestinian leadership, described as "unrepresentative and dysfunctional," urging that the future state be "democratic and law-abiding," and pointing to elections due in November, as reported by Al Jazeera and The Guardian.

Context: Gaza and West Bank

The letter comes against the backdrop of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which followed the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas. Al Jazeera reports that more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, and that despite a ceasefire in October 2025, Israeli attacks have continued, killing at least 1,285 Palestinians since, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The Guardian separately notes that over 1,200 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire.

Violence in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has surged since the Gaza war began, as reported by France 24 and RFI. France and Britain this week joined other countries in a statement condemning the Israeli government's release of new construction tenders in the occupied West Bank. The Guardian reports that the UK foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, described the tenders for 1,200 homes in the E1 area as a "destructive threat" to the viability of a two-state solution and summoned the Israeli chargée d'affaires, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein. In response, Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, was quoted as saying that "Jewish people have a right to live throughout Israel."

The Guardian also notes that the statement condemning the E1 tenders contained no clear threat of consequences, apart from a warning to businesses about legal and reputational risks. The letter's publication follows diplomatic tensions over US-led peace efforts, with reports that Israel rejected a 15-point US plan and that eight Muslim countries, including the UAE, criticised the rejection. The Guardian further reports an internal debate among diplomats over whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, through military and political provocations, is seeking to goad countries into reprisals that could help his chances in elections due on 27 October.

The letter, which was given to the Guardian and Le Monde, also states that the policy of occupation and destruction extends to Lebanon and Syria, where villages have been razed. The former diplomats argue that their countries' responsibility traces back to the mandates the UK and France held over Palestine, Syria and Lebanon after World War I, as reported by Al Jazeera.