Richmond Park MP Sarah Olney has criticised the Israel’s aggressive actions in Palestine in response to an open letter from the Muslim community calling for support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Liberal Democrat MP Olney called for the international community to rally in favour of a ceasefire and peace between Israel and Palestine amid the ongoing bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and settler-led violence in the occupied West Bank of Palestine.

She was responding to an open letter, dated May 16 and seen by the Richmond and Twickenham Times, that was written by Dr Atif Bhatti, chairman of the Kingston Muslim Association Board of Trustees.

Richmond and Twickenham Times: Open letter to Sarah Olney from Kingston Muslim Community. Open letter to Sarah Olney from Kingston Muslim Community.

The letter cited the killing of Palestinian civilians, including dozens of children killed in Israeli bombing of Gaza in recent days.

It meanwhile demanded that Olney "call upon the UK government to condemn this action and demand that Israel stop this violence".

"Israel is acting outside of international law, the Geneva Convention and is in violation of UN resolutions.

"We ask that you raise our concerns about this humanitarian crisis with the Foreign Secretary, and that the UK government…acts immediately to bring an end to the crisis in Gaza," the letter read.  

As of Wednesday, May 19, at least 227 Palestinians, including 64 children, have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza alone since May 10.

Deaths in Israel from retaliatory rocket attacks total 12 so far, including two children, while around 300 Israelis have been wounded.

Responding to a request from the RTT for a comment on the open letter and escalating violence in Palestine, Sarah Olney’s office issued the following statement:

"The UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process has warned that the situation in Israel and Palestine is ‘escalating towards a full scale war’. 

"It is therefore vital that the UK Government plays its full part to avoid war. The international community must come together to say that this violence must cease. We need people to put down their arms - to stop killing innocent civilians and children - and get back to the negotiating table. It is vital that the UK Government supports international efforts to de-escalate the conflict, regardless of the position of the United States. 

"International pressure must now be put on both the Israeli government and Hamas to abide by their commitments under international law. 

"The Israeli Government has behaved provocatively by pursuing evictions in Sheikh Jarrah that would be illegal under international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. This was exacerbated by the overly aggressive reaction of the Israeli authorities and their failure to protect worshippers attacked by extremists at the al-Aqsa mosque.

"Hamas then retaliated. We must see a return to talks that bring a lasting end to this escalating violence and improve the lives of citizens. There is no justification for any targeting of civilians and every effort must be made to avoid the loss of life, especially that of children."

The statement continued, singling out Foreign Secretary and Esher and Walton MP Dominic Raab’s statement on the conflict that criticised Hamas militant’s armed response to Israeli aggression, but not Israeli airstrikes against Palestinians in Gaza.  

"It is also vital that violence against peaceful worshippers of any faith ceases urgently. The international community must increase its efforts to prevent the further escalation of this conflict and work towards the establishment of a more broadly stable Middle East.

"We were disappointed that the Foreign Secretary’s media statement on the crisis focussed solely on Hamas, making no acknowledgement of the role of the Israeli government. Neither was there any recognition of the provocative timing of these attacks, during Ramadan,” Olney said.

Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank in Palestine since 1967, and encouraged the building of settlements on Palestinian land and displacement of Palestinians there in actions considered by many in the international community to be state apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Israel has meanwhile laid siege to Gaza city, home to around two million Palestinians (a third of whom are children), blocking aid and medical supplies, and repeatedly bombed civilians there in what have been condemned like Hamas rocket attacks as war crimes.