Threats received: Palestine holds UK gov't responsible for the safety of envoy, staff

The State of Palestine is urging host nations to step up their diplomatic security provisions after the diplomats, offices and properties of the embassies and diplomatic missions of Palestine in several capitals around the world received direct threats of violence and have been subjected to acts of vandalism, the Palestinian Mission in the UK said in a statement today.

Attacks against Palestinian ambassadors, diplomats and diplomatic staff have already taken place, it added.

“The Foreign Ministry reminds host nations of their responsibility to provide protection to our embassies and diplomatic missions as per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).”

The degree of incitement against Palestinian diplomats caused by the exceptional circumstances of the Israeli occupation’s destructive war has reached unprecedented levels. Several Palestinian missions have reported receiving death threats and harassment of staff, in addition to acts of vandalism that have caused criminal damage to property.

Although Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Dr Riad Al-Maliki has spoken personally with his counterparts, only a small number of governments have stepped up their diplomatic protection measures, the statement explained.

“The Palestinian Mission to the UK is a case in point. Although the government of Palestine directly requested from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the UK government provide round-the-clock protection for the Mission in London, and he promised to do so, this has not yet happened.”

Over the past three weeks, the Palestinian Mission to the UK has filed several formal notices with the Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the British Metropolitan Police after a number of death threats were made against the Palestinian Ambassador Hosam Zumlot and mission staff and property was vandalised. “However, the British government has not yet addressed this grave situation,” it explained.

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