A Palestinian from the West Bank village of Bil'in views newly constructed homes in the Israeli settlement of Modi'in Illit, built illegaly on the village's land. (Charlotte de Bellabre, Maan Images)

The British Government's plan to rent new premises in a Tel Aviv skyscraper has run into trouble after a wave of protests that their prospective landlord is a major participant in Jewish settlement-building in the occupied West Bank.

The British embassy has been in negotiations to lease three floors in Kirya Tower from Africa Israel Investments, a company controlled by Lev Leviev, a London-based property and diamonds billionaire with substantial business interests in Israel.

Pro-Palestinian organisations are urging the Foreign Office to cancel the plans, arguing that one of the company's subsidiaries is prominent in settlement building and that Mr Leviev is a big contributor to the Land Redemption fund, which acquires Palestinian land for Jewish settlements.

Daniel Machover, of the UK-based Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, says in a letter to The Independent that renting space from Mr Leviev is "tantamount to HM Government condoning Israel's settlement building, supporting clear violations of international law, which in some cases [amounts] to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and hindering the possibility of peace in the Middle East." Most Western governments - including Britain's - regard settlements as illegal under international law.

Mr Machover points out that Gordon Brown strongly criticised continued settlement expansion on his visit to the Middle East this year. And he says that the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 2004 reminded third party states that they "are also under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction."

Danya Cebus, a construction subsidiary of Africa Israel, has been accused by human rights activists of building homes in a number of West Bank settlements including the ultra- Orthodox settlement Modiin Illit, close to the Palestinian village of Bil'in.

In June, the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, announced, in response to lobbying by the United States-based Arab rights group Adalah NY, that it would no longer enter into partnerships or accept contributions from Mr Leviev because of his suspected involvement in settlement building.

To read the full article please visit The Independent.