“Those who support Palestinian rights within and beyond the Labour Party should now echo the concluding calls of the (TUC) motion on the British Government in their entirety.”
By Matt Willgress, Labour & Palestine
At the time of writing, Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, injured more than 70,000 and displaced over 75% of Gaza’s population. The illegal war has destroyed – and is every day still destroying – housing, hospitals, schools and universities.
This is the context to a major development at this year’s TUC Congress in September, when delegates took the historic decision of unanimously passing a motion that reveals in its entirety the utter inadequacy of the new government’s approach to Israel’s illegal war.
In particular, the union movement further upped the pressure on an issue where public campaigning has already led to limited moves from the Government, namely that of arms sales to Israel – by calling for an end to all licenses for arms traded with Israel.
This was a welcome and much needed rebuke to the decision of Foreign Secretary David Lammy to suspend just 10% of arms export licenses – a decision which also, as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) pointed out, crucially excluded indirect exports of components for the F-35 combat aircraft known to have been used to massacre civilians.
The motion also recognised Israel’s war on Gaza amounts to a plausible case of genocide and should be met with a principled foreign policy, that under the Genocide Convention requires all steps be taken to prevent genocide and punish those responsible. It called for sanctions against individuals and entities that have incited genocide. Again, the PSC commented that this was in “marked contrast to Labour’s position of treating Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as a key ally.”
The motion further recognised Palestinians are subjected to a system of apartheid. As was the case with South African apartheid, this requires a concerted effort from the labour movement to dismantle it. The TUC therefore called for sanctions and building boycott and divestment campaigns.
This is an opportunity to further ramp-up our amazing Palestinian solidarity movements. This means that those who support Palestinian rights within and beyond the Labour Party should now echo the concluding calls of the motion on the British Government in their entirety, namely calling on the Government to:
“a. immediately recognise the State of Palestine, contributing to a two-state solution
b. end all licences for arms traded with Israel, meeting international law
c. demand a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages and Palestinian political prisoners
d. ensure safe access to essentials including water, electricity, and food, and restore funding to UNRWA
e. following the ICJ and ICC statements, impose sanctions upon individuals and entities who have made statements inciting genocide against Palestinians
f. revoke the 2030 Road Map for UK-Israel bilateral relations.
g. ensure decent work and quality public services are embedded in the reconstruction of Gaza.”
We will not rest until Palestine is free.
- LIVERPOOL EVENT: Palestine – What should the new UK Government do? Central Liverpool venue. Saturday September 21st, 16.30. Register here. With the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK: H.E Husam Zomlot. Plus: Richard Burgon MP, Kim Johnson MP, John McDonnell MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, Hugh Lanning (Labour & Palestine), Fraser McGuire (‘Arise’), Jess Barnard (Labour NEC member), Maryam Eslamdoust (TSSA General Secretary), Mick Whelan (ASLEF General Secretary) & Matt Wrack.(FBU General Secretary).
- You can add you name to the petition calling for the new Government to impose an arms embargo on Israel here.
- You can follow Labour & Palestine on Facebook and Twitter/X.
- This article was originally published in Labour Hub on 17/9/2024.
