Lara Bird, the SNP MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, and Kate Nevens, a Green MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, had both been attempting to enter the West Bank via Jordan when they were stopped by Israeli authorities and held for around eight hours, The National understands.
Labour MP Clive Lewis, former Labour MP Sam Tarry, Josu Estarrona Elizondo, a representative of the Basque EH Bildu party in the Spanish senate, and Nick Dearden, the director of campaign group Global Justice Now were also barred from entering the illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
Scottish Greens MSP Kate Nevens (left) and SNP MP Lara Bird (Image: PA)
As serving MPs, Lewis and Bird were told they could request special permission to enter Palestine from Israel’s foreign minister, while everyone else on the delegation was flatly refused entry, The National understands.
A letter seen by this paper said that the non-MPs were being blocked from entering Palestine due to the “prevention of illegal immigration”.
Bird said: “I came to stand alongside Palestinians being attacked for harvesting olives on their own land. Instead, we were turned away at the border with no reason given.
“More than ever, Palestinians are being subject to terror and violence by the IDF and illegal settlers. Increased blockades, demolitions and unthinkable violence have become the norm for Palestinians in the West Bank.
“It is more important now than ever that we bear witness and show our solidarity. But we were prevented from doing so. If Israel has nothing to hide, why is it so determined to stop us seeing what is happening in the Occupied West Bank?”
Lewis added: “We knew that by crossing into the occupied Palestinian territories, we risked being detained, interrogated and turned away by Israeli authorities. And that, alas, is exactly what happened.
“For more than eight hours, we were held, interrogated and made to feel as though we had done something wrong simply by attempting to enter. The simple truth is we had done nothing wrong.”
Dearden said: “This is clearly part of a much wider campaign in which Israel is increasingly stopping politicians, observers and even aid workers from entering the West Bank to witness or provide support to Palestinians. It is clear that Israel is trying to erase Palestinian life in the West Bank and Gaza with minimum fuss and attention – cutting off support and solidarity from the outside world.”
The group had been aiming to attend Progressive International’s Second Ramallah Congress, and were due to meet Palestinian students and civil society leaders at Birzeit University, as well as accompany Palestinian farmers facing escalating Israeli settler violence during the olive harvest.
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Last week, The National reported on the case of Yasmina Ferrigan, a shop manager in Edinburgh who was detained and deported from Israel while trying to visit business partners in Palestine.
On Friday, Benjamin Netanyahu‘s Israeli government ordered the military to prepare to fully close the West Bank. Since then, thousands of Palestinians in the territory have been displaced amid Israeli military operations.
Netanyahu is currently trailing in the polls, with elections for a new Israeli government to be held on Tuesday.
The Israeli prime minister is wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Image: JIM WATSON, AFP via Getty Images)
Independent UN commissions have found that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and war crimes in the West Bank.
A report published by the UN on Monday and written by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that “Israeli authorities and forces have committed the crimes against humanity of extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the West Bank”.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice – the principal judicial organ of the United Nations – issued a ruling saying that Israel’s presence in occupied Palestinian territories like Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank was “illegal”.
The ruling said that restitution would include the return of all lands, the evacuation of all settlers, the dismantling of border walls, and compensation from Israel where any of this would be impossible.
The Israeli government has been approached for comment.