MAP, in partnership with the New Statesman, held a fringe event around the Labour Party Conference in Manchester this week looking at the fallout from the recent bloody conflict in Gaza that saw over 2,000 Palestinians killed and thousands wounded.
Peter Hain MP opened proceedings urging for a proper debate about strategy towards the conflict leaving aside the carnage in Gaza and focusing on the politics. He said that “Likud don't believe there will be an independent Palestinian state” and that there is a wider assumption “that human rights for Palestinians is national suicide for Israel”. Hain forecast that “if there is no deal with the Palestinian Authority you'll get ISIS”.
Mr. Hain, a former Government Minister, described the population of Gaza as “at the mercy of an Israeli embargo”. He pointed out that “Western powers are increasingly culpable for the situation in Gaza. If you want a political solution to conflict and war you have to negotiate with everyone. I see lots of rhetoric but little practical action, even John Kerry has warned that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state. The Europeans look like hypocrites for helping to rebuild Gaza after Israel has bombed it to smithereens. Meanwhile there is the ongoing remorseless Balkanization of the West Bank”. Mr. Hain closed by warning that “I'm not saying a two state solution is finished but it is increasingly looking impossible”.
Richard Howitt MEP urged the packed audience to remember the 2,500 days of the Blockade that preceded the Gaza conflict. Howitt said “the work MAP is doing is really important and absolutely crucial to relieve the suffering “. He went on to insist that “we have to make sure that war crimes are held to account”. Interestingly Howitt confirmed rumours that the new EU foreign leadership want to play a greater political role towards the issue and spoke of how the “EU border assistance mission could help end the blockade of Gaza and the EU is now talking about creating a humanitarian corridor from Cyprus to Gaza”. Speaking from the audience Julie Ward MEP reminded the panel of the massive reaction to events here in the United Kingdom saying that she “spent my summer trying to calm the Muslim Community in my constituency because of what was happening in Gaza “.
MAP Trustee and former Parliamentarian, Dr. Phyllis Starkey, opened by speaking of the scale of the crisis facing Gaza's health sector and describing the work of our specialist medical teams that are going in. Dr. Starkey went on to push for specific EU actions in response to the conflict including the suspension of all arms sales and a strict timetable for ending the blockade. She also reminded the panel that “we need the EU to recover from Israel the cost of reconstruction of Gaza and Humanitarian aid - over 2bn Euros. Israel should pay for those costs as the occupying power”.
Stephen Kinnock, formerly of the British Council and now a Parliamentary Candidate, described the need “to move the European debate forward” as well as pursuing a “radical approach towards Gaza”. He said simply that “settlements are illegal why are we trading with them?” Kinnock who recently visited MAP projects in East Jerusalem, spoke of going to “a Bedouin playground where the Israeli military had taken away the swings as they didn't have planning permission”. He reminded the audience of the important Parliamentary vote on Palestinian statehood happening on the 13th October before concluding that “whether it is 1 state or 2 State I don't care - as long as based on human rights and international law”.
Professor Rosemary Hollis opened by telling the audience that by 2016 Gaza will not have any water to drink and by 2020 it will be unliveable. She then asked “what will that do for radicalisation in UK if 2 million Palestinians are about to die in Gaza and have nowhere to flee to?” Professor Hollis went on to push for the international community taking full responsibility for Gaza via a Mediterranean Sea front.
