Pro-Palestinian Protesters Condemn Great Israeli Real Estate Event Outside Edgware United Synagogue

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the Edgware United Synagogue in London on Sunday to condemn the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” and what they said was the sale of land and properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Jeanine Hourani, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, told Al Jazeera at the rally, “We’re here today protesting as Palestinians living in London, to say that we refuse the selling of our lands, our homelands.”

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera reported that the Metropolitan Police said 15 people were arrested during the demonstrations “for a range of offenses, including public order matters.”

The event was organized by the My Home in Israel real estate agency, and Al Jazeera said it drew opposition from human rights activists and politicians across the United Kingdom who urged the British government to stop it happening.

At the same time, Al Jazeera said a large group of pro-Israel counter-protesters rallied in support of the event, with some shouting “Palestine doesn’t exist.”

In London, more than 100 UK lawmakers called for the cancellation of the real estate event scheduled to take place on Sunday, warning in a letter that it was “firmly embedded in Israel’s project of colonial expansion by facilitating the sale of land that has been stolen from Palestinians.”

The Guardian said the letter to Yvette Cooper came after concerns were raised by MPs in parliament and by London mayor Sadiq Khan, who said he discussed the event with Metropolitan police.

Al Jazeera

Sadiq Khan told Mayor’s Question Time that he had been in touch with the Met and had discussion with the Foreign Office and Home Office regarding the event after Green Party leader Zack Polanski raised concerns, and he said, “I share concerns about the Great Israeli Real Estate event taking place in our city, which I oppose.”

The London Evening Standard reported that organisers denied they would feature land for sale in the West Bank, describing the allegations as “ridiculous,” and said a spokesperson told the Jewish News that “all exhibitors, without exception, will provide information about properties and projects within the Green line.”

Alongside the street protests, Middle East Eye reported that pro-Israel activists threatened and attacked anti-apartheid protesters outside the London real estate event, and it quoted journalist and activist Andrey Khrzhanovskiy saying the scenes were “very reminiscent of everything that I've seen in the West Bank.”

Middle East Eye also said footage showed anti-Zionist activists disrupting the event and denouncing the sale of occupied Palestinian land, while pro-Israel activists chanted “There is no Palestine, we flattened it” outside the synagogue.

Amid the demonstrations, Al Jazeera quoted Layla Moran, one of the letter’s signatories, saying, “It is a stain on the British public and the international rule of law that this event has been allowed to go ahead today,” and she added that the Metropolitan Police should have stopped it.

Al Jazeera reported that a UK Foreign Office spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the outlet on Sunday, “we have been clear that we completely oppose the advertisement of property for sale in illegal settlements.”

The Guardian said the event was the final stop in a series of international roadshows that had appeared to advertise the sale of land in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and it described the event as inviting people to register their interest in Gush Etzion, which the UK government considers an illegal settlement.