UK and Spanish parliamentarians blocked from entering West Bank by Israeli forces
An SNP MP and a Scottish Green MSP, along with several other European lawmakers, were detained for about eight hours and denied entry to the occupied West Bank.
Lara Bird, the SNP representative for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, and Kate Nevens, a Green MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, were stopped by Israeli officials while trying to enter the West Bank from Jordan. They spent around eight hours in detention before being denied entry, according to one outlet. The group, which also included Labour MP Clive Lewis, former Labour MP Sam Tarry, and Basque EH Bildu senator Josu Estarrona Elizondo, intended to join the Progressive International’s Second Ramallah Congress and visit Birzeit University to meet Palestinian students and civil-society leaders.
Their itinerary also featured accompanying Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest, a period marked by increased settler attacks. Bird criticized the blockage as an attempt to hide the situation on the ground, while Lewis said the detention was unjust and unnecessary. The incident highlights ongoing restrictions on foreign observers in the occupied territories.
Why it matters
The denial underscores Israel's tight control over access to the occupied West Bank, limiting international observation of the conflict.
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