Véronique De Keyser, author. − (FR) Mr President, there are two aspects to the painful problem of the expulsion of the al-Kurd family, one political and one humanitarian.

The political aspect is the status of East Jerusalem, which is claimed as an integral part of Israel by the Israelis. Let us remind ourselves that neither Europe nor the international community has ever understood it as such.

In Resolution 252, the UN Security Council quite clearly stated that all legislative and administrative measures and provisions adopted by Israel, including the expropriation of land and property which tend to alter the legal status, are invalid and cannot modify its status.

The Security Council reminded Israel as much in 1980, when it adopted measures to make unified Jerusalem its capital, and Resolution 476 calls for the immediate cessation of policies and measures affecting the character and status of the holy city. Resolution 478 affirms that all measures taken to modify the status of the city are null and void. Neither the UN nor Europe has ever gone back on this point.

That is why, despite all the respect that everyone in the House has for Israeli independence and justice, we know that it can only be based on the laws of its country, which conflict here with international law, and that, moreover, international law does not grant it any jurisdiction over East Jerusalem.

The expulsion of the al-Kurd family therefore needs to be placed in this political perspective and cannot be seen merely as a property dispute. The al-Kurd family has been expelled for the benefit of a Jewish family which only recently emigrated to Israel. They have been deprived of their property right after having fought for 40 years and some of our parliamentarians who met them can describe the human drama that this expulsion represents better than I.

I welcome the fact that we are calling across the party divide for justice to be done and for their property to be restored to them.

(Applause)