“The overwhelming might & firepower of Israel – its military, police & armed citizens – means that this is not a conflict, it is the systematic oppression of the Palestinians. We must stand with the oppressed against the oppressor.”
By Matt Willgress, Arise.
Millions of people around the world, including here in Britain, protested against the Israeli Government’s recent attacks on the Palestinian people.
Those who stand in solidarity with Palestine now must not stop speaking up against the illegal occupation of Palestine and for the Palestinian peoples’ rights.
The fundamental injustices remain. For 54 years Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been illegally occupied by Israel. Gaza has been under siege for 14 years. Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are denied equal right and millions more are scattered across the region and wider world as refugees.
The overwhelming might and firepower of Israel – its military, police and armed citizens – means that this is not a conflict, it is the systematic oppression of the Palestinians. We must stand with the oppressed against the oppressor.
As the recent statement from the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs said, “A long-lasting peace for both Palestinians and Israelis can only be secured through a just solution that tackles the underlying injustices: Israel’s illegal occupation, its colonial settlements, its denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return, its violations of human rights and international law and its siege of Gaza.”
Keep speaking up, keep protesting and build solidarity in the labour movement and beyond for justice for Palestine!
- This piece is from the 8 page Labour Outlook summer update, featuring Jeremy Corbyn, Richard Burgon, Bell Ribeiro-Addy & more– read & download at https://labouroutlook.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Labour-Outlook-june-2021.pdf
- Join the Palestine Solidarity Campaign at www.palestinecampaign.org/join
- Follow Labour & Palestine at twitter.com/LabourPalestine and fb.com/LabourandPalestine
- Send the Labour & Palestine model motion to Annual Conference from your CLP (copied below & more info here.)
Palestine Model Motion for Labour Party Conference 2021 (Labour and Palestine)
Conference condemns Israel’s militarised violence attacking the Al Aqsa mosque, the forced displacements from Sheikh Jarrah and the deadly assault on Gaza.
Together with the de facto annexation of Palestinian land by accelerated settlement building and statements of Israel’s intention to proceed with annexation, it is ever clearer that Israel is intent on eliminating any prospects of Palestinian self-determination.
Conference notes the TUC 2020 Congress motion describing such settlement building and annexation as ‘another significant step’ towards the UN Crime of Apartheid; reinforced by the recent reports by B’Tselem and the Human Rights Watch, whose report – ‘A Threshold Crossed’, details how Palestinians are ‘born unequal’, shown recently by the discriminatory approach excluding Palestinians from Israel’s vaccination programme.
Conference welcomes the International Criminal Court decision to hold an inquiry into abuses committed in the occupied Palestinian Territories since 2014.
Conference resolves that action is needed now due to Israel’s continuing illegal actions and that Labour should adhere to an ethical policy on all UK trade with Israel, including stopping any arms trade used to violate Palestinian human rights.
Conference resolves to support “effective measures” including sanctions, as called for by Palestinian civil society, against actions by the Israeli government that are illegal according to international law; in particular to ensure that Israel stops the building of settlements, reverses any annexation, ends the occupation of the West Bank, the blockade of Gaza, brings down the Wall and respects the right of refugees to return to their homes under international law.
