“Doctors Without Borders tell us that children as young as five are saying that they wish to die rather than continue to live in these conditions. An entire generation of children subjected to unimaginable trauma.”
Apsana Begum MP addressed the Labour & Palestine “Women for Palestine” rally in the run-up to International Women’s Day. You can read a published version of her speech or watch the event below:
For all of us, watching the unconscionable suffering being inflicted on the Palestinian people is unbearable.
Knowing that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza and still the bombs continue to fall, is unbearable.
Watching children begin to die from malnutrition and starvation, hearing the director of the UN World Health Organisation call Gaza ‘a death zone’, is unbearable.
Doctors Without Borders tell us that children as young as five are saying that they wish to die rather than continue to live in these conditions. An entire generation of children subjected to unimaginable trauma.
And what is so hard to stomach is that these are conditions deliberately imposed on the civilians in Gaza by the Israeli Government, with the full support and backing of our Government.
Every day that this slaughter is allowed to continue unchecked, Israel deploying arms our Government sold them to murder Palestinian civilians, is a stain on our nation’s conscience.
How many more Palestinians have to die before our Government acknowledges that Palestinian lives matter. How many before they say this is enough?
People all over the UK see clearly and understand that starving civilians, destroying schools, hospitals and targeting refugee camps can never be viewed to be part of a legitimate military operation. So why is our Government so wilfully blind?
Increasingly, I don’t have the words to describe the horror that continues to be inflicted on Palestinians living in Gaza. We on this call are not asking for words from our Government – we are asking for action.
Action to ensure that the urgent humanitarian aid that is needed can reach the people of Gaza.
Action to immediately halt arms sales to Israel.
Action to pressure to make an unequivocal demand to the Israeli Government for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
As we speak more than a million displaced Palestinians, about half of Gaza’s population, are crammed into Rafah after being forcibly displaced there, and being told that finally there they would be safe.
We say: not in our name.
Amidst the horror, this cry of humanity and solidarity continues to get louder and louder, and it is what gives us hope. We are a global movement, a global movement of people from every background, every age, every religion, every gender.
I draw strength from the unwavering solidarity of thousands of people in my own constituency: people in Tower Hamlets and the people across East London will never stop standing with Palestine!
I will continue to stand and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, as I have done since October.
But we know that a ceasefire is not the end, it is just the beginning, and we demand nothing less than peace, freedom and equality for the Palestinian people.
Please let’s continue to draw our strength from each other – from this global movement that we are part of, that every day continues to grow, and above all from the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.
- This article is a published version of the speech given by Apsana Begum MP during Labour & Palestine’s ‘Women for Palestine‘ rally held in the run-up to International Women’s Day 2024. You can watch back the event on YouTube or listen back on the Arise Festival podcast.
- Apsana Begum is the MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Apsana on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
