The letter to the Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Foreign Secretary can be read in full here:
20 November 2025
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
King Charles Street, London SW1
Dear Foreign Secretary,
We write to express our grave concern at the escalating settler violence, systematic deprivation and threat of mass demolitions facing the Palestinian community of Umm al-Khair, located in Masafer Yatta in the occupied state of Palestine. We would urge immediate UK action to prevent the forcible transfer of its residents and other Palestinian communities under similar threat.
On 28 October 2025, Israeli forces and Civil Administration officials delivered 13 final demolition orders and one stop-work order in Umm al-Khair, targeting homes, a community centre, and other humanitarian structures built with and supported by UK aid. These orders follow years of deliberate efforts to dismantle the community’s infrastructure, including the cutting of water and electricity lines, the confiscation of solar systems, and repeated demolition of homes and livestock shelters.
Since 2009, when the UN began tracking demolitions, Israeli authorities have demolished 56 structures in Umm al-Khair, displacing 191 people. Many families have been displaced multiple times. The community continues to face state-supported violence and intimidation from settlers operating from nearby illegal outposts such as Havat Ma’on and Avigayil, as well as the illegal settlement of Carmel which settlers access right through Umm al-Khair..
On 28 July, 2025, community leader, Awdah al-Hathaleen, was shot and killed as settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, damaged the community’s water network and uprooted trees. The settler who shot and killed Awdah, Yinon Levi, has long been linked to violent attacks, land seizures, and intimidation campaigns across Masafer Yatta. Levi was sanctioned by the United Kingdom on 12 February 2024 under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020, after the UK Government found that “Levi has threatened and perpetrated acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals in the West Bank.” Despite this designation, Levi continues to move freely, leading violent raids and enforcing the coercive conditions that sanctions were meant to deter. Sanctioning individuals is not enough when the system enabling such violence remains intact.
Following a request for extension on 6 November, authorities granted an additional 14 days, setting the new objection deadline for 23 November. During this time, demolitions are temporarily suspended. The targeted structures fall within a planning scheme previously submitted by the community, providing a clear basis for their retroactive legalization under existing procedures. With legal avenues limited and the window for action closing, it is critical that the UK urgently engage with the Israeli authorities to press for the legalization of these structures and to prevent the community’s displacement.
The situation in Umm al-Khair is a perfect example of this discriminatory system in action. In the months following Awdah al-Hathaleen’s killing, settlers continued their attacks on the community and established a new illegal outpost of seven caravans on its privately owned land. Although an Israeli court issued an order barring settlers from the site, they moved in the very next day, in full view of the authorities. At the same time, Israel continues to issue demolition and stop-work orders under a discriminatory and restrictive planning regime that makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians in Area C to obtain building permits. These orders are therefore punitive and unlawful in character, serving to suppress Palestinian development, consolidate settlement expansion, and sustain the coercive environment.
The community has already pursued legal avenues to challenge the demolition and stop-work orders, but the 14-day appeal period is now nearing expiry. Should all legal remedies be exhausted without relief, the demolition orders would become enforceable, placing the community at imminent risk of losing one-third of its remaining structures, a devastating loss as winter approaches. These demolitions would leave families without shelter while the surrounding illegal outposts remain fully intact and connected to water and electricity. The lawyers working to defend Umm al-Khair predict that they have a 1 in 5 chance of success in court.”
The situation in Masafer Yatta is part of a broader and deliberate Israeli policy of annexation and forcible transfer, prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. More than 66,000 Palestinians in 218 communities across the West Bank are now classified by humanitarian monitors as facing imminent or high-risk threats of forcible displacement.
The ICJ’s 2024 Advisory Opinion affirmed that Israel’s discriminatory planning regime, settlement enterprise, and related measures may constitute breaches of international law, including the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and the obligations of non-recognition and non-assistance incumbent upon all states. In this context, and given the UK’s formal recognition of the State of Palestine and its status as a High Contracting Party to the Geneva Conventions, the UK bears a clear legal and political responsibility to ensure respect for these instruments and to refrain from recognising or assisting in maintaining unlawful situations.
We therefore urge the Government to:
1. Publicly and unequivocally call on Israel to immediately cancel all demolition and stop-work orders in Umm al-Khair and across the occupied state of Palestine , and to end the discriminatory planning regime that makes Palestinian construction virtually impossible, in violation of Israel’s obligations as an Occupying Power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
2. Demand the immediate dismantling of all settlements and outposts established in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2334, and ensure that settlers and associated entities are held accountable under international law.
3. Adopt coordinated diplomatic and economic measures to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law, including:
- Suspending the UK–Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement until demolitions and settlement expansion cease.
- Prohibiting trade, investment, and financial transactions linked to settlements or annexation-related activities.
- Imposing targeted sanctions, including entry bans and asset freezes, on individuals and entities responsible for or benefiting from serious violations. Reviewing all bilateral cooperation to guarantee that no UK resources, partnerships, or investments contribute to or legitimise annexation or forcible transfer.
4. Lead coordinated action with European and allied partners to establish protective presence missions in at-risk communities and to advance accountability through the UN Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court, and other multilateral mechanisms.
Umm al-Khair’s residents have shown extraordinary resilience in the face of systemic persecution. The UK must now act decisively, clearly, and in partnership with its allies to uphold international law and prevent the erasure of this and other communities across the West Bank.
Yours sincerely,
Signed by:
Shockat Adam MP
Baroness Wendy Alexander of Cleveden
Paula Barker MP
Lorraine Beavers MP
Órfhlaith Begley MP
Apsana Begum MP
Sian Berry MP
Rt Hon. Baroness Tessa Blackstone
Richard Burgon MP
Rt Hon. Alistair Carmichael MP
Sarah Champion MP
Rt Rev. Guli Francis-Dehqani, Lord Bishop of Chelmsford
Dr. Ellie Chowns MP
Rt Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP
Marsha De Cordova MP
Pat Cullen MP
Carla Denyer MP
Dave Doogan MP
Lord Alf Dubs
Colum Eastwood MP
Sorcha Eastwood MP
Baroness Julie Elliott of Whitburn Bay
Patricia Ferguson MP
John Finucane MP
Will Forster MP
Andrew George MP
Rt Rev. Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester
Rt Hon. Lord Peter Hain
Chris Hazzard MP
Lord John Hendy KC
Chris Hinchliff MP
Dáire Hughes MP
Adnan Hussain MP
Imran Hussain MP
Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece
Baroness Barbara Janke
Kim Johnson MP
Baroness Helena Kennedy of The Shaws LT KC
Ayoub Khan MP
Ben Lake MP
Peter Lamb MP
Chris Law MP
Graham Leadbitter MP
Brian Leishman MP
Baroness Ruth Lister of Burtersett
Seamus Logan MP
Andy McDonald MP
Rt Hon. John McDonnell MP
Cathal Mallaghan MP
Rt Hon. Kit Malthouse MP
Rachael Maskell MP
Paul Maskey MP
Baroness Nosheena Mobarik CBE
Abtisam Mohamed MP
Iqbal Mohamed MP
Lord Shaffaq Mohammed of Tinsley MBE
Layla Moran MP
Grahame Morris MP
Rt Hon. Baroness Lindsay Northover
Lord Jonny Oates
Brendan O’Hara MP
Dr. Simon Opher MP
Kate Osamor MP
Manuela Perteghella MP
Yasmin Qureshi MP
Naz Shah MP
Baroness Shas Sheehan
Lord Indarjit Singh of Wimbledon
Andy Slaughter MP
Jeff Smith MP
Rt Hon. Lord Nicholas Soames of Fletching
Rt Rev. Christopher Chessun, Lord Bishop of Southwark
Zarah Sultana MP
Jon Trickett MP
Baroness Pola Uddin
Rt Hon. Valerie Vaz MP
Rt Hon. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi
Nadia Whittome MP
Steve Witherden MP
Most Rev. and Rt Hon. Stephen Cottrell, Lord Archbishop of York
