“A war across the whole Middle East would be a disaster for all. It must not happen. We must seek peace.”
By Maryam Eslamdoust, TSSA General Secretary
I’m Maryam Eslamdoust, General Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association trade union.
The transport workers of Britain and Ireland send solidarity to the people of Palestine and Lebanon.
It has been an extraordinary couple of weeks.
The genocide in Gaza is continuing, with fresh massacres every day.
We must not forget this as Israel seeks to draw attention away with its violence in Lebanon and attempts to create a war across the whole Middle East.
It can never excuse the genocide that has followed, but as we approach the anniversary, we also should not forget the Israeli civilians killed and injured on 7 October last year.
But as I say, the last fortnight has brought new horrors to the Palestinian people and to the Lebanese people.
Despite all the evidence from past behaviour, many of us somehow imagined that in this war Israel would not invade a sovereign UN member state. They have now done so in Lebanon.
We somehow imagined that Israel’s crimes behind the closed doors of Gaza would not be repeated in a city where Westerners sometimes take their holidays.
But now in Beirut – that shining city of bars, and cafes, and beaches – we have witnessed carpet bombing of residential housing estates. We have witnessed blatant and deliberate targeting of hospitals.
It feels like now surely the world must stop closing their eyes to the crimes Israel is committing.
But instead – in this week of invasion – our leaders have made no condemnation of Israel’s attack on Lebanon.
Instead they have come close to committing British troops to Netanyahu’s dream of war with Iran.
This week we saw Iran finally forced into military response to the bombing of Iran’s consulate, to the Israeli carpet bombing of Shia neighbourhoods in Beirut and invasion of Shia villages in Southern Lebanon, to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, to years of assassinations of Iranian scientists and public figures.
Iran’s missile attack on Israel was targeted at military and intelligence targets. US academics have, for example, identified more than 30 separate missile strikes on Nevatim air base.
Yet Israel and Western leaders have pretended that Israel’s legendary missile defence system prevented almost all the missiles reaching their targets.
We can only assume that Israel believes that if you are not bombing schools, and hospitals, and civilian residential blocks, then you are not on target.
But while some Palestinians and Lebanese took comfort from any kind of fightback, this is not a moment for triumph or bombast – it is a moment of extreme danger.
Danger because Lebanon and Gaza are still under invasion. Danger because the genocide in Gaza continues. Danger because there is a risk of wider war on an unimaginable scale.
As an Iranian, I fear war. We Iranian’s know as well as the Palestinians and the Lebanese that war scars the whole nation and scars every family.
Both Iran and Israel may now feel compelled by events to escalate to all out war.
A war across the whole Middle East would be a disaster for all.
It must not happen.
We must seek peace.
Western leaders must get off their high horses, and get off their hobby horses.
The US and UK must talk down their Israeli allies.
And the US and UK must also talk to their Russian and Chinese partners on the UN Security Council, to encourage them to talk down their Iranian allies.
This is the essence of diplomacy.
We can prevent all out war.
Iran and Israel can back down.
But I say this with certainty – a ceasefire cannot just mean Iran and Israel standing down their jets and missiles.
Any meaningful ceasefire must also include cessation of attacks and withdrawal from Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank.
FREE LEBANON! FREE PALESTINE!
- Maryam Eslamdoust is TSSA General Secretary, and delivered this speech to the National March for Palestine in London on 5th October 2024.
- You can follow her on twitter here and the TSSA here.
- If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
