A range of Jewish voices in the legal industry, including Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner senior consultant Harold Paisner, have signed a letter calling on the Israeli government to halt its annexation plans.

The letter, organised by the Global Jewish Coalition, warns against annexation, highlighting it "would expose Israel to new and grave dangers under international law" and "undermine the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination".

Annexation is intended to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and could begin as early as this week.

BCLP's Paisner said annexation would mean a "significant and perhaps final obstacle to any potential future peace agreement as well as a further move away from the very concepts of the rule of law, social justice and democracy itself."

Legal academics, practitioners and jurists from around the world have signed the letter. Notable U.K. solicitor signatories alongside Paisner include Mishcon de Reya dispute resolution partner David Leibowitz and Harbottle & Lewis partner Mark Phillips.

Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, joins barristers including Doughty Chambers' Adam Wagner, Francis Taylor Building's Sarah Sackman and Blackstone Chambers' Michael Beloff in signing.

Meanwhile, U.S. academic Professor Joel Trachtman and senior counsel at U.S. firm Pepper Hamilton, David Richman have also signed, alongside Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard.

The letter continues: "[Annexation] would implicate Israel in violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law."

It urges the government to "follow the path of the law".

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