“There is no doubt the British Government have a responsibility to step up for the people of Gaza fleeing collective punishment, and yet, shamefully, there is no doubt that they are still choosing complicity rather than compassion.”
Apsana Begum MP
As the Israeli military continues to rain bombs on Gaza, Ben Hayes reports on the recent parliamentary debate on creating a Palestinian Visa Scheme.
This week saw a Commons debate on the e-petition ‘Create a Palestinian Family Visa Scheme for Palestinian people affected by war’, which reached the threshold of over 100,000 signatures required to prompt discussion in Parliament.
Moved by MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood Cat Smith, the discussion included contributions from representatives across eight different parties – many outlined both the scale of the humanitarian disaster being faced by the Palestinian people and the strength of feeling amongst their constituents, with significant numbers contacting them in advance.
A broad range of Labour MPs took part, with notable speeches from several who have been longstanding campaigners on the situation.
Those from the party’s left included MP for Poplar & Limehouse Apsana Begum, who slammed the government’s record both on Palestine and the use of reactionary politics in relation to immigration:
“The political establishment has been totally out of touch with the majority of British people on this. That will not be easily forgotten. As young people across east London ask me, how is it that the Government condemn certain countries for their human rights records and crimes, but not others? Why does the right to self-determination seem to be spoken about for some, but not others? Why are some national flags celebrated but others denigrated, or even effectively banned? Why are some deaths mourned and others explained away? Why is it that, for the Government, too many Palestinians have been killed or are starving, but there is no condemnation of those who killed them or are starving them?”
“For some time now, parliamentary political discourse has used migration—even the absolute horror of people dying in the English channel—cynically and as a political tool. It is the age-old phenomena of scaremongering and scapegoating. As the Government erode our civil liberties and democratic rights, as they disenfranchise and disempower, and as they attack the very fabric of our communities through austerity, they foster fear and division and they falsely point to migrants as the cause of our alienation. In truth, it is overwhelmingly clear that the global drivers of refugee movements are intrinsically connected to the legacies of colonialism and empire, which live on to this day. There is no doubt the British Government have a responsibility to step up for the people of Gaza fleeing collective punishment, and yet, shamefully, there is no doubt that they are still choosing complicity rather than compassion.”
Streatham MP, Bell Ribiero-Addy, highlighted the catastrophic impact of the war on civilians, and noted Britain’s historical role in creating the context for what is happening in Gaza:
“People who have already been forced out of their homes are having to flee once again. According to an interim damage assessment conducted by the World Bank and the UN, $18.5 billion-worth of damage to critical infrastructure has been done, and 74% of that is housing. Eighty-four percent of health facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and those that are left are barely functioning. Doctors are having to perform amputations on children and perform C-sections without anaesthetic. It is worth restating that under the Geneva conventions, the forcible transfer of a civilian population is a war crime, as is the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure. Yet, even after the ICJ ruling, our Government’s decision to keep supplying military hardware to Israel and their failure to push for a lasting ceasefire mean that the UK is wholly complicit in creating the conditions for the humanitarian crisis we are now witnessing. We have a responsibility to help those who are suffering.”
“There is nothing that Palestinians want more than a safe return to their home. However, the inordinate civilian death toll in this conflict sadly means that many Palestinians simply will not be alive to exercise that right. From the Sykes-Picot agreement to the Balfour declaration, the betrayals of McMahon to the invasion of Allenby’s forces, we have to acknowledge that it was long-standing British policy to displace Palestinians from their homes.”
“Our shared colonial history means that we have a unique responsibility towards Palestinian refugees and a particular responsibility to push for peace in the region, but it is a responsibility that this Government have completely shirked so far. I urge the Minister to listen to the thousands who signed the petition, including hundreds of my constituents, and create a Palestinian family reunion scheme. As well as supporting people displaced by the war in Gaza, we need the Government to do something about the root causes of that displacement, which means suspending arms sales and pushing for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”
Emphasising the strong local feeling in his constituency, MP for Hayes & Harlington John McDonnell urged government Minister Tom Pursglove to push for action:
“I do not know how much more we can take from the Government. Our constituents feel stressed and angry about the inaction of the Government and by their complicity in supplying arms to the butchers who maim the children. I ask the Minister to listen to what has been said today on a cross-party basis, listen to the individual cases, recognise the suffering that is going on and, for God’s sake, in the name of humanity, introduce a scheme that gives some comfort, succour and safety to those desperate people.”
Other contributions to the debate from the Labour left included Margaret Greenwood, Sam Tarry, Richard Burgon and Nadia Whittome- you can read the full transcript here.
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Why doesn’t Labour simply cut out the middleman and declare itself a terrorist organisation. It would be much easier.