Update on Palestine

Peace and stability seem further away than ever, and the situation in Gaza remains dire. 

I have spoken about how my own extended family was eventually able to flee the church in which they were sheltering in Gaza and took refuge in Bahrain, only to again find the same noises of drones overhead and bombs raining down on them from another conflict started by Israel. It is hard to believe we have ended up in this position. The war in Iran is not just pushing up prices around the war and throwing the global economy into turmoil, it is also having a profound effect on the conflict in Palestine. 

While attention is diverted, Israel has doubled down on its agressive and discriminatory actions in Palestine. This week the Knesset passed a law legalising the death penalty, effectively only for Palestinians. Amnesty International has called it “another discriminatory tool in Israel’s system of apartheid”. The UK has expressed "deep concern” but has done nothing, a consistent pattern of the Government taking slow steps very late on in response to the genocide and atrocities being committed. 

This week’s BBC article on Gaza is one of few in recent times, as the focus of the world’s media has shifted to Trump’s disastrous new war in Iran. Most seem to have forgotten that Israel and Netanyahu started it. Gaza is being lost in the noise, as is international law. The rules which hold everything together have been thrown to the wind by Trump, and it is very worrying where we end up when the dust settles. I have to give Keir Starmer some credit here for finally finding a backbone and standing up to Trump and refusing to let Britain be drawn into his illegal war. 

But where Starmer could do more is in diplomatic actions to pressure the Israeli Government. As I have said before, the ban on trade with illegal settlements should be the next step. It is bizarre that the Government is content to say that these settlements are illegal but take no action to stop the flow of goods and services from them. I continue to work with the British Palestinian Project and others to develop the mechanism by which this is done. But we should not have to, and the Government with all the resources and legal expertise, should have done this themselves. 

I was pleased that my letter to the Prime Minister requesting that Britain apologies for its historic actions in Palestine received over 40 signatures from Parliamentarians. There is a growing recognition that through the Balfour declaration and British rule in the Mandate period, Britain encouraged partition and played a part in sowing the seeds for the violence that has followed. 

Lib Dem colleagues are also pressing for action, with Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller writing to the Foreign Secretary regarding Israel’s indiscriminate campaign in Lebanon, developing into a wholly unjustified and illegal land grab.  The letter contains a number of demands for action from the Government including doing more to improve the flow of aid into Gaza, and allow access to reporters. 

As ever, I will continue my work with MPs and groups across Parliament to build consensus on this issue and hold the Government to account.