For years, many of us have been asking what it would take for the British government to officially recognise Palestine – in order to delegitimise the Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, and usher in the end of the territorial ambitions of Israel’s far-right. Well, now we know it’s not Israel bombing Gaza flat in a lethal campaign involving deliberately targeting schools, universities and hospitals, killing tens of thousands of civilians including humanitarian workers, ignoring and disrespecting the UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and adding starvation as a war tactic. The current British government has responded to the Gaza war with the usual evasions and denials.
And yet it was Great Britain which told the League of Nations when we took responsibility for Palestine after World War I that delivering a fair outcome for all the peoples of Mandate Palestine was “a sacred duty for Civilisation”. Although the passage of time has dimmed that memory for us, it understandably hasn’t dimmed it for the generations of Palestinians who have lived under what Amnesty International calls a system of “oppression” and “apartheid”. Israeli historian Ilan Pappe long ago called the West Bank an open prison, and Gaza a closed prison.
The key sticking point now is whether or not the destruction of Gaza and its people constitutes genocide. If the UK government admits that Israel’s actions in Gaza seem like genocide it will be obliged, under the Genocide Convention, to act to stop it, and because of that, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has stood up in the House of Commons and said categorically that he does not recognise what is happening as genocide.
The ICJ will not pronounce a final judgement for several years, but the convention doesn’t say signatories can remain bystanders until that day, it says we have to take action to stop it. The ICJ has made it clear there is a case to answer and issued warnings and some demands to Israel – so the time for action is now, while those who haven’t already been killed or displaced are still alive.
Is Parliament or the Executive ‘Sovereign’ under our constitution ?
If parliament were to organise a cross-party coalition to support a motion that genocide is happening in Gaza, the government would be forced to act, and that would inevitably mean not just a slight reduction in the number of arms export licences, or selective sanctions against individuals in Israel and the West Bank, it would mean sanctions that banned all trade with Israel. Many Israelis already oppose the aggressive Netanyahu regime, but full sanctions would be a shock to the Israeli system, and would awaken all of the Israeli public to realisation that our apparent acquiescence over the escalation of the onslaught in Gaza is not the same as approval. They need to be shown that they have been led down a very dangerous path, and that contrary to their national paranoia about surrounding Arab countries being bent on their destruction, all their neighbours want, as do we in the UK and around the world, is justice for the Palestinians.
Why our elected MPs won’t reflect the will of the British people on this issue – and force the government to admit we are witnessing genocide in Gaza – is an open question. Imposing sanctions on Israel is probably the only way to bring Israel’s leaders to their senses, and help Israel start to rebuild its reputation around the world. Maybe Israelis need reminding that mercy blesses both the giver and the receiver, and although the greater part of the ‘sacred’ pledge we made all those years ago is owed to the Palestinians, who have suffered so much, we also owe it to the Israelis to use every effort to bring the terrible destruction in Gaza and the West Bank to an end.
* Andy Daer is a member of the Liberal Democrats in South Gloucestershire.
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9 Comments
An excellent article, and speaks, it seems, for the majority of voters in the U.K. wanting a halt to Israel’s violence, and a fair solution. It is indeed excruciating to see this government failing to act in the face of Israel’s continuing atrocities. And as Andy Daer puts it so well, honouring Britain’s historic commitment to a fair outcome for all the people of Mandate Palestine will benefit both parties in this devastating conflict.
Andy makes some very good points in this powerful article. It would be good if Party members sent a copy to their MPs and encouraged them to read it.
Sadly, and with a heavy heart, my opinion is that the leadership of both major parties have a total Trumpian aversion to ever admit they were wrong, so my conclusion is – as a country effectively never. It is well evidenced that the Labour establishment used accusations of antisemitism as a means to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, so the possibility of Kier Starmer doing something that could ever be portrayed as antisemitic is nil.
Israel has nuclear weapons so it is unlikely that they would take any notice of sanctions imposed by outsiders
With a deliberate blockade, perhaps those countries who recognise this genocide can get together and organise an airlift of essential supplies similar to that over Berlin in 1948-49.
South Africa had nuclear weapons but it didn’t save their apartheid state.
What prevents any sanctions on Israel is the total commitment of the USA to protecting Israel at all costs, which may have begun to slightly falter recently but is still decades away from collapse, if ever. Any sanctions by us would be swiftly followed by sanctions busting by them, and retaliatory sanctions ON us by the USA – despite being their “closest ally” the RUC was banned from receiving weaponry during the troubles as we were an occupying power and our slavish dedication to avoiding upsetting the USA counted for nothing. The F35s on our white elephant partially-equipped carriers would be unable to be unsupported and unmaintained within weeks, the moment we decide to doing anything remotely against Israel.
The only hope for any significant pressure at all will have to come from the EU – suspending the EU-Israel free trade agreement would be a good first step.
What else needs to occur before David Lammy considers it to be genocide? And why are sanctions still considered to be disproportionate?
@nvelope2003
How exactly do nuclear weapons make an economy immune to sanctions? Surely the cost and materials needed to build and maintain them would if anything make it more vulnerable.
Antony H describes a possible scenario after we impose sanctions, but in my view it’s an unlikely one. I would see sanctions as a planned collaborative action by the UK, France and Germany (and probably Ireland and Spain). Trump might not like us effectively overruling him, but punishing us with trade tariffs or ending maintenance for F35s on our aircraft carriers would expose the true nature of US the role in the genocide. MAGA voters have bought the line about Europe having “ripped off America” for generations, and that trade tariffs are “pay-back time”. How would he sell punitive action against a humanitarian stance taken by America’s European friends ?
Trump is not known as the ‘Flip-flop King’ because of his footwear. He could easily sell the old Gaza war policy as yet another Biden mistake, and unusually, this denigration of Biden’s legacy would actually be true.