Britain lists Israel next to Iran as nation with human rights record 'of concern'

The criticism will unsettle the Jewish State, which proudly boasts it is the only democracy in the Middle East, and considers the UK an ally amid an increasingly critical Europe.

In the quarterly report published on Thursday, which considers the period between October and December 2012, Israel sits in the company of Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Zimbabwe – countries the foreign office considers to have a human rights record 'of particular concern'. The Palestinian Authority is also included, although it is noted that Israel's refusal to deliver Palestinian customs revenue has undermined the leadership's capacity to enforce law and order.

The four-page entry on Israel lingers on November's intense bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip and recently announced plans to expand dramatically Israel's settler presence in the West Bank.

Following the Palestinian Authority's successful bid for upgraded status at the United Nations last November, Israel announced it would push ahead with plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in the E1 areas of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The UK, along with Spain, Denmark and Sweden, to summoned its Israeli ambassador in protest.

British diplomats in Israel will admit that Downing Street has grown increasingly frustrated with Benjamin Netanyahu's stubborn expansion of Israeli settlements into what should be the future Palestinian state – a policy Britain believes could derail the peace process entirely – and is taking ever stronger action to demonstrate this frustration.

Prior to both the latest escalation in the Gaza conflict and Mr Netanyahu's announcement regarding E1, Matthew Gould, Britain's ambassador, warned Israel that continued settlement expansion was eroding its international support.

"Support for Israel is starting to erode and that's not about these people on the fringe … The interesting category are those members of parliament in the middle, and in that group I see a shift," Mr Gould told Israel's Channel 10 in August.

The Israeli government declined to issue an official response to the UK's report on Friday, but sources in the Israeli foreign office confirmed they had read the report and found only differences of opinion that they were already aware of – "there is nothing new here," one diplomatic source said.

Britain's criticism has come as the United States urged Israel not to carry out its anticipated boycott of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is meeting in Geneva next Tuesday, and is likely to raise both Israeli settlement expansion and its ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel has complained of an 'inherent bias' against the Jewish state within the UN. If it does not appear before the council for review, it would be an unprecedented snub.

Source http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9827915/Britain-lists-Israel-next-to-Iran-as-nation-with-human-rights-record-of-concern.html