LONDON HOSTS SECRET ANTI-BDS MEETING

London, 13 Jumadil Akhir 1435/13 April 2014 ( MINA ) – The British capital has hosted a secret meeting attended by 25 countries to counter international calls to boycott Israeli regime’s products.

The meeting, which was held in London this week, lasted for three days and was attended by UK’s former Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Alistair Burt and the Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, UPI reported on Friday.

The report said the participants included the United States, Australia, and Canada, in addition to a number of European states, Press TV  quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The secret meeting was part of Tel Aviv’s attempts to avert the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the regime.

The BDS campaign is part of international efforts to pressure Tel Aviv to stop illegal constructions in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

However, the Tel Aviv regime defies calls to abandon its illegal settlement activities. (T/P04/…)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)