CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the possible relocation of Britain’s embassy in Israel, following reports that a site in the contested city of Jerusalem has already been earmarked. 

Friends of al-Aqsa (FOA) warned on Wednesday that the relocation of the embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv, a proposal being considered by Prime Minister Liz Truss, would send a “clear message of British support for the violation of international law.”

The warning comes after Tory MPs allegedly received briefing notes ahead of the party’s conference in Birmingham from the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) group claiming that Britain already owns land in West Jerusalem on which a new embassy could be built. 

According to Middle East Eye (MEE), the notes were sent to MPs by CFI director James Gurd in a bid to set out the case for moving the embassy to Jerusalem, despite the city’s status as Israel’s capital not being widely recognised internationally. 

Tory MPs also suggested in comments to the conference that plans were already in motion, according to MEE. 

It reported former housing secretary Robert Jenrick as having said that there was a Jerusalem site “waiting to go,” while party chairman Jake Berry pledged to support Israel’s push “to ensure … that the capital in Jerusalem is the home to our new embassy.”

The comments are likely to heighten fears that the move could go ahead, prompting anger from Palestinian rights groups in Britain. 

In a statement, FOA said: “Israel is an apartheid state whose ongoing occupation of Palestinian land is a flagrant violation of international law.
   
“FOA strongly opposes this move and will continue to defend the freedom of Palestinians.”

The briefing note also asserts that a decision to relocate the British embassy would be a mere “bureaucratic one that recognises the reality on the ground,” adding that it would “not preclude the Palestinians from establishing their capital in East Jerusalem in the future.”

Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal dismissed these claims as “profoundly dishonest.”

He said: “CFI is fully aware that such a move would reverse decades of British foreign policy, isolate Britain from the international consensus and violate international  law.

“Even suggesting it shows cavalier disregard for the rights of the Palestinian people, and the centrality of Jerusalem for Palestinian political, economic, cultural and religious life.”