Former French and British diplomats urge joint action against Israeli settlement expansion

Joint appeal to London and Paris

A group of 102 former diplomats from France and the United Kingdom published an open letter on 22 August 2026 in Le Monde and The Guardian, urging their respective governments to enforce international law in the Palestinian territories. Addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the letter includes 52 French signatories and 50 British signatories, many of whom held senior diplomatic postings in Egypt, Iran, Bahrain, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Key participants include former British ambassadors to the United Nations Jeremy Greenstock and Emyr Jones Parry, alongside former French foreign ministry Middle East directors Yves Aubin de la Messuzière and Denis Bauchard. The diplomats argued that because both nations are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and recognised the State of Palestine in 2025, they hold a distinct responsibility to translate that diplomatic recognition into concrete policy.

Accusations of ethnic cleansing and territorial erasure

The letter details severe humanitarian and territorial deterioration across the Palestinian territories, asserting that Palestinian statehood is facing erasure. The signatories pointed to the condition of two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who remain confined to 30% of a devastated territory without adequate food, shelter, or medical supplies following the military campaign launched after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. While explicitly condemning the actions of Hamas on that date, the authors maintained that those acts cannot justify the systematic destruction of Gaza. In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, the diplomats described ongoing house demolitions and settler violence taking place with the connivance of Israeli military and police forces as actions amounting to ethnic cleansing.

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. That is why they must act together to uphold international law in Palestine.

Demands for sanctions and legal enforcement

To counteract settlement growth and protect territorial contiguity, the signatories recommended that London and Paris implement decisions from the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Specific proposals include suspending bilateral military cooperation, halting arms sales, and freezing commercial trade agreements with Israel. The publication follows an official statement issued two days earlier on 20 August 2026, in which Britain, France, and nine other countries condemned the Israeli government's release of construction tenders for 1,200 homes in the E1 settlement area. Following that tender announcement, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, the Israeli chargée d'affaires in London, describing the housing project as a destructive threat to a two-state outcome.

Proposals for Palestinian governance

Alongside measures directed at Israel, the letter set out governance recommendations for Palestinian authorities to ensure stability and institutional integrity. The former diplomats called for the political, administrative, and economic reunification of Gaza and the West Bank, accompanied by the organisation of free and fair elections across both areas. The signatories stressed that the Palestinian state, now recognised by more than two-thirds of global nations, must uphold democratic standards and the rule of law despite ongoing occupation. The text stopped short of addressing the disarmament of Hamas, an issue Israel maintains as an essential condition for withdrawing its forces from Gaza.