As a Labour party supporter and member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME) I may be somewhat biased in advocating a Labour vote on 7 May, but some causes should transcend party politics, and Palestine is one of them.
For those demanding a government with an ethical and just foreign policy towards the Palestinians, a Labour government is our only chance as the evidence bears out. Since Ed Miliband became the party leader in 2010 he has taken an increasingly bold position on the issue helping the party move on from the dark shadow of the Blair era, while offering a credible alternative to current Prime Minister David Cameron, who, like Blair, has consistently failed to criticise Israel at every opportunity.
On state recognition
In 2011 and 2012, the Labour party unequivocally supported calls for the recognition of a Palestinian State at the UN Security Council and General Assembly, stating that “Palestinian statehood is not a gift to be given, but a right to be recognised.” The Tory-led government abstained at both votes saying they would support state recognition only through or after a return to negotiations between both sides, in effect offering the occupier a veto over the self-determination of the occupied.
On 13 October 2014, LFPME’s Chair Grahame Morris MP put forward an historic motion to the House of Commons which called for the government to recognise “the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution.” An overwhelming majority of 274 to 12 MPs voted in favour (of which 195 were Labour). Ed Miliband described the vote as “right and fair and in line with the values of the Labour party”; while David Cameron abstained and stated that government policy would not change. Only 39 Conservative MPs (12.8 per cent) voted in favour of the motion.
It was a bold move by Ed Miliband and he attracted considerable criticism for his position. Newspaper headlines quoted senior disgruntled Jewish donors and supporters who threatened to withdraw support from the Labour party over what they called Ed’s “toxic anti-Israeli stance over Gaza and the state recognition vote”.
According to the Independent: “A senior Labour MP warned that Miliband now had a ‘huge if not insurmountable challenge’ to maintain support from parts of the Jewish community that had both backed and helped fund Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s election campaigns.”
Glasgow MP Anas Sarwar said after the statehood vote: “This is not a question of pro-Israel or pro-Palestine; this is a motion that is pro-justice and pro-peace.” But the pro-Israel lobby has always maintained a “with us or against us” policy, attempting to stifle any justifiable criticism of Israeli policy or actions; Ed Miliband’s principled and balanced approach has clearly shaken up the status quo.
But was the UK position really so radical? The UK vote was seen as an historic shift and was followed by a number of European countries, including Spain, France, Ireland and Italy as well as a European Parliament vote in December to recognise Palestinian statehood. The sands are shifting in Europe and globally too and the Labour party has shown it is prepared to lead that shift.
While there are occasional voices of reason amongst the Tories, the fact that there is no Conservative Friends of Palestine is an indication of their isolation in the party. In August 2014, the Conservative’s former chair and foreign office minister Baroness Warsi resigned over her party’s uncritical position during the Gaza war, describing it as “morally indefensible”, acknowledging it was not in “Britain’s national interest and will have a long term effect on our reputation internationally and domestically.” In 2010, former Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that the window of opportunity for a two-state solution was closing. But these voices are few and far between while in the Labour party the issue has firmly moved from the backbenches to the front.
On illegal settlements
It is not controversial to identify the ever-expanding illegal settlements as an obstacle to a Palestinian state and nor was it for Labour’s shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham when he visited Israel and Palestine in 2013. He concluded there was a “real danger that the two-state solution is dying before our eyes and we urgently need to change the terms of debate.” Yet in December 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron described them as simply “unhelpful”.
On Gaza
Equally uncontroversial – you would think – would be to criticise the killing of 2,100 Palestinians (not to mention the 10,224 injured and 475,000 displaced) when Israel attacked Gaza last summer, which was already suffering a humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s eight-year blockade. Ed Miliband spoke out against Israel’s “unacceptable and unjustifiable” killing of civilians in Gaza, adding that “the life of a Palestinian child is worth no less than the life of an Israeli child”.
Prime Minister David Cameron squarely laid the blame on the Palestinian side stating: “The crisis was triggered by Hamas raining hundreds of rockets on Israeli cities, indiscriminately targeting civilians in contravention of all humanitarian law and norms.” When asked if the Israeli incursion into Gaza was a war crime, Cameron responded: “What is certainly a war crime is launching unprovoked missile attacks on the sovereign territory of another country.” It seemed as if the prime minister’s briefing came directly from the Israeli Ministry of Propaganda.
If the Tories are successful on 7 May, this will serve only to strengthen their appalling positions on foreign policy. LFPME Chair Grahame Morris said: “The government’s decision to not support Palestinian aspirations for statehood placed Britain not only at odds with the international consensus, but on the wrong side of history.”
Meanwhile, the Labour party has demonstrated its commitment to supporting international law as an honest and impartial broker for peace, working closely with our European allies. That is not to say that there isn’t scope for improvement, the party remains reticent about a ban on trade and investment with illegal settlements, while growing calls from across Europe suggest things are, and will, shift in this direction.
But there are growing calls within the Labour Party to support that shift too. Following a visit to Israel and Palestine in 2014, Stephen Kinnock, the Labour candidate for Aberavon said: “It’s time for a radical new approach to the negotiations, based on a peace process that is rooted in international law and aimed at ending the occupation, rather than prolonging it.”
In an interview with the Huffington Post, he added: “There’s a need for the international community – particularly the EU – to play a more decisive role” and, urged the UK to “work with its European partners to end trade and investment with illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory.” This is the kind of Labour party I want to support and will be voting for on 7 May.
At the 2010 Labour party conference, Ed Miliband said: “No solution to the conflict of the Middle East is possible without international action, providing support where it is needed, and pressure where it is right to do so.”
LPFME will press a Labour government to honour pledges made in opposition and you can support us in doing so.
Komal Adris is a Labour supporter and an Executive Committee Member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME).