Model contemporary motion for Labour Party conference: Uphold international law for Palestinians
Conference notes:
On July 12, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse in Gaza… civilians are being pushed into ever deeper circles of hell.”
On 19 July, the International Court of Justice ruled Israel to be unlawfully occupying Palestinian land in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. It demanded Israel withdraws immediately, dismantles illegal settlements and pay reparations. It confirmed Israel is guilty of violating Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.
The ICJ’s January finding that South Africa’s claims concerning the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide – and related prohibited acts identified in the Genocide Convention – are plausible.
Conference welcomes the decisions of the Labour government to restore UNRWA funding and abandon Tory attempts to block the International Criminal Court from holding Israeli leaders accountable for crimes against Palestinians.
Conference believes Britain has a moral and legal obligation not to assist violations of international law. We must commit to the application of international law, including abiding by rulings and judgements of the ICJ and ICC.
Conference believes the new Government should:
Support an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Impose a full arms embargo until Israel complies with international law.
End trade with illegal settlements and all other trade that aids or assists Israel in maintaining its illegal occupation.
This motion is being circulated jointly by Labour & Palestine and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Below is the text of the speech Kim Johnson MP was due to give at Labour & Palestine’s event on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which was unfortunately curtailed due to Parliamentary business.
Thanks chair, I am pleased to speak today on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people
I want to start by reiterating my condemnation for the atrocities carried out by Hamas on October 7th and the collective punishment that has been imposed on Gaza in the weeks since. The loss of civilian life is abhorrent, and in times such as these it’s vital that we remember our shared humanity and that we come together to address the root cause of this tragic cycle of violence: the occupation of Palestine.
This is a time of unspeakable tragedy for the Palestinian people and for humanity.
The harrowing images, videos and reports of the catastrophe being waged on Gaza are utterly heart breaking. The numbers of Palestinians displaced and dead now far outstrip those of the 1948 Nakba.
It is an outrage that the international community has turned its back on Gaza and permitted this to happen in plain sight. The complete disregard for Palestinian life in the defence of Western interests should chill us to the bone.
There is no justification for the collective punishment being imposed on Palestinians in the occupied territories.
This latest surge in violence, aerial bombardment of the most densely populated, open air prison on earth, has created a level of suffering that was previously unimaginable.
A tortuous ban on essentials entering the strip, including water, food, medical aid and fuel.
The siege of hospitals, where premature babies in intensive care units were starved of oxygen until they could no longer survive.
Pregnant women giving birth without pain relief or access to proper medical care, estimated 160 babies delivered every day.
Accusations of the use of white phosphorous.
International aid workers, medics, journalists all killed in the line of duty.
Over 5000 children murdered in the most distressing ways possible, entire families wiped out – and the western world watched this play out on our TV screens every night, and still refused to call for a ceasefire, excusing Israel for these atrocities, as a right to defend themselves.
No one can plead ignorance to these atrocities committed by Israel in the name of self-defence, not least our own political leaders who even now are refusing to call for a permanent ceasefire.
In the harrowing words of UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres, Gaza is a ‘graveyard for children.’
And let us not forget the West Bank, where Israeli forces and settlers have killed more Palestinians since 7 October than the whole of last year, the temporary truce in Gaza will not bring an end to this escalating violence and expansion.
As the fragile ‘pauses’ continue to hold, the international movement for a just peace must not fall into complacency. Just because the bombs have stopped falling and the humanitarian operation has begun does not mean the danger has passed. We are witnessing the biggest forced displacement of Palestinians since the Nakba, with indications that Israel intends to occupy northern Gaza and push the Palestinians into the Sinai.
Israel is the only country in the world that systematically detains, interrogates and prosecutes children as young as 12 in military courts and accepts confessions obtained by coercion. It’s just one part of a broad unequal legal frame that Israel applies across historic Palestine, particularly since the 2018 Nation State Law and Trump’s Deal of the Century.
Action must be taken to put an end to the decades long systematic violation of Palestinian rights, including the state-sanctioned settler expansions and violence, the military occupation of the West Bank, and the siege of Gaza that has turned the strip into the world’s largest open-air prison. Failure will prolong cycles of violent outbursts, caused by the underlying day-to-day violence and humiliation of the occupation.
Impunity breeds extremism. Governments in the West, including our own, have for years given Israel a blank cheque to flout international humanitarian law without repercussion. The last seven weeks has shown just what this leads to, we have to keep up the pressure on our own government to hold Israel to account for its actions. This includes the immediate suspension of arms sales to Israel, while investigations are undertaken to determine if the arms we sell Israel have been used in violation of international humanitarian law against civilians in the occupied territories – as I called for in my question to the Minister of Defence last week.
If one thing has brought light in these dark times, it is the hundreds of thousands of people in this country and beyond who have taken to the streets week after week to say not in our name, who joined millions around the world who have stood strong in the face of attempts to intimidate and de-mobilise these expressions of solidarity. The strength of public opinion has been impossible to ignore.
We must maintain this pressure to end the bloodshed, starting with a permanent ceasefire.
We must then fight to make this atrocity a decisive break with the decades of subjugation and occupation of the Palestinian people, and demand nothing less than a sustainable, just and lasting peace that includes the right of return for all refugees and an end to settler colonialism, the siege, and the occupation, until Palestine is free.
The ‘pause’ in the bombing has been widely, and wrongly, described by much of the media as a ceasefire, even though Israel is committed to continuing its war on the Palestinian people. But no pause or ceasefire, however long, will by itself bring about peace.
Israel has been at war with the idea and existence of a state of Palestine since 1948. The starting point for any peaceful solution must be the ending of Israel’s illegal military occupation and with it bringing down the Wall, ending the siege, giving the Palestinians back their land, water and gas and removing the settlers and their settlements.
Given Labour’s shameful failure to call for a ceasefire, one must be sceptical as to whether its leadership is capable of supporting a just and lasting peace or only rubber-stamping the continuation of an Israeli imposed military regime from Gaza on the Sea to Jericho on the River Jordan.
To achieve the possibility of negotiating a just and lasting solution there has to be a quantum shift in the balance of power. Sending Palestinian leaders into an imagined negotiating chamber with Israel is not just sending them in naked, but it’s with their arms and legs bound on the rack while the screws are applied to make them sign the proffered ‘agreement’.
With the armed forces of the occupier sitting on top of them, backed by the might of the Western World – the unholy trinity of the US, EU and UK – what chance do the Palestinian people have of emerging with their self-determination, rights and freedom intact?
Polls tell us that Palestine has the sympathy of the world community. The millions marching around the world for an immediate ceasefire and for freedom for Palestine show that the global population is being moved by what it is witnessing.
Some 75 years after the UN unilaterally created a nation state on Palestinian land – from then on, through the occupation in 1967, to Oslo and beyond, the world has continually failed to deliver on its promises of a Palestinian state.
To achieve this will of course require a volte face by the major parties in the UK Parliament. On the universal and uncritical support of Israel’s war on Palestine, we must be clear. This is not just a war on Gaza – it is a war on the whole Palestinian people and the notion of a Palestinian state. The West must use its considerable powers to drag Israel kicking to negotiations. Through its actions Israel has de-legitimised itself by acting outside and without reference to international law.
Today is the right day for the world to commit to ending Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people and to impose sanctions until it finally complies. This should mean no arms trade, no military aid, no military cooperation and support. It is transparently clear how, when and where such support is used – to kill and repress in order to support its illegal occupation.
Rather than a bill by Government trying to ban boycott and disinvestment from Israel, the UK should be calling for full trade and financial sanctions until a just peace is agreed that achieves self-determination for Palestine. There is no doubt that the numbers marching on London’s streets and demonstrating up and down the country are demanding not just an immediate ceasefire, but also for Britain to acknowledge the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
On this day of solidarity, Labour must listen to those voices and heed the call of the next generation of voters for an end to the occupation and sanctions now and stop arming issue until there is a just peace for Palestine.
In a strong show of the growing pressure on Keir Starmer to back the call for a Ceasefire Now in Gaza, over 10,000 – including members of over 500 Constituency Labour Parties – have signed a petition reading “We call on the Labour Party leadership to join the growing international calls for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.”
Commenting on the strength of support for the petition, Apsana Begum MP said, “The ongoing dehumanisation and collective punishment of Palestinians will be marked in history as a crime against humanity. It is vital that the Labour Party stand up against war crimes and be counted.”
Hugh Lanning of Labour & Palestine, who initiated the petition, said “That some 10,000 Labour members from over 500 CLPs have, signed the Labour & Palestine petition calling on the Labour leadership to back an immediate ceasefire confirms the strength of opinion at the party’s grassroots.”
He added, “Keir Starmer’s continuing refusal to make the call for a ceasefire and his threats to sack frontbench MPs who vote for one tonight is deeply shocking to members and out of step with the public, risking lasting damage to Labour support. It is time for him to listen and urgently change course.”
Welcoming the growing support for a ceasefire in the Labour Party, TSSA General Secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said “The Labour Party is supposed to stand on the side of the oppressed, and those backing the petition are doing just that. Instead, we have seen MPs being suspended or forced to resign shadow ministerial posts simply for supporting the cause of peace. It is not good enough.”
Young Labour Chair Nabeela Mowlana said, “The last few weeks have demonstrated the strength of feeling amongst the British public that we will not sit by as our political leaders allow atrocities to take place in Palestine. A ceasefire is the first step in a desperately needed peace process rooted in justice and liberation. The Labour leadership must do the right thing by supporting the vote for a ceasefire.”
And Mohammad Suhail, Young Labour International Officer, added “The overwhelming support this petition has received from across the Party is heartening and indicates the position members want to see Keir Starmer take. Ahead of any Commons vote on a ceasefire, we call on all Labour MPs to stand on the side of peace, and vote to call for a ceasefire.”
Long-standing Palestinian solidarity campaigner and Labour NEC member Jess Barnard said, “Keir Starmer is not just out of step with Labours membership, he is on another planet. 76% of the general public support a ceasefire, 10,000 members have now signed the Labour and Palestine petition, hundreds of councillors, regional and national labour figures have all supported the calls for an immediate ceasefire.”
Fellow NEC member Gemma Bolton joined those welcoming the strong support for the petition, saying “That over 10,000 Labour members have signed the petition shows that they, like the general public, overwhelmingly back a ceasefire. They rightly understand a ceasefire is the only way to stop the horrific scenes we have seen broadcast from Gaza – and commence the process of negotiating a just and lasting peace.”
Over 15,000 people have used a separate L&P online lobbying tool to MPs in support of Zarah Sultana’s amendment to the King’s Speech calling for a ceasefire. Read more and take action at https://labourandpalestine.eaction.online/CeasefireNow
Labour & Palestine is horrified by the escalating violence in Israel and Palestine and the callous response of the UK government. We call on the Labour Party to act to help bring about an immediate ceasefire, as called for by the UN, the TUC and many others.
We are appalled by the loss of life of both Israelis and Palestinians and believe that the targeting and attacking of civilians and the imposition of collective punishments are, as is clear in international law, war crimes that must be condemned by all.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has said this latest outbreak of violence and slaughter of innocent civilians does not take place “in a vacuum”. The war in Gaza did not start on 7 October – it is a direct result of Israel’s illegal and brutal military occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967.
The Israeli state has actively supported the building of illegal settlements in the West Bank, arrested and detained thousands – including hundreds of children – demolished homes and stood by while heavily armed illegal settlers viciously attacked Palestinians.
These breaches of Palestinian human rights have been well documented by the UN, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, among others. Yet these acts of violence, intimidation and oppression have been allowed to reach a new high since the extreme right-wing administration of Benjamin Netanyahu took office last year.
The failure of the parties to the Oslo Accords, including the UK, to fulfil the promises made to the Palestinian people of an independent state, have made any route to peace increasingly difficult.
The UK government’s uncritical support for Israel’s illegal actions is completely wrong.
The Labour Party must now lead demands for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the full application of international law to apply equally to all peoples.
Below is a model motion for CLPs to consider defending our right to boycott, which has been worked on by Labour & Palestine and Palestine Solidarity Campaign supporters who are active in the Labour Party.
It is important for CLPs to keep raising this issue to put pressure on in the run-up to further debates and votes in Parliament on the Tories’ anti-democratic legislation.
CLPs can still submit motions to this year’s Annual Conference – the deadline for motions is 5pm Thursday 21 September.
Alternatively, CLPs can instead pass the motion and send to the NEC (making the necessary small amendments to the model motion text.)
MOTION: Oppose the Tory anti-boycott bill
Conference shares the concerns of a wide range of civil society organisations – including the TUC, affiliated trade unions, charities, NGOs, faith, climate justice and human rights organisations – that the government’s ‘Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill’ or anti-boycott bill will limit the ability of public authorities to make ethical choices about spending and investment consistent with human rights, climate goals and international law.
We are proud of our movement’s historic support for boycott and divestment campaigns including the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa. Legal advice commissioned by the Labour Party makes clear that had this bill been law during the 1980s, it would have forced local authorities to do business with that criminal and racist regime.
The Tories have indicated that a major reason for proposing this law is to prevent public bodies from divesting from companies operating in Israel and occupied Palestine – even if they are complicit in violating international law and human rights.
Conference believes that public bodies and democratic institutions should be able to spend, invest and trade ethically in line with international law and human rights.
Any suggestion that, alone among peoples facing oppression around the world, Palestinians should be singled out and denied the right to appeal to people of conscience for support is wrong, runs counter to Britain’s legal obligations, and must be rejected.
Conference calls on the PLP to vote against the bill and, if it is passed, commits to repealing the anti-boycott law when Labour is in government.
With: H.E. Ambassador Husam Zomlot // John McDonnell MP // Mick Whelan, ASLEF // Beth Winter MP // Simon Dubbins, Unite // Nabeela Mowlana, Young Labour // Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine // Jess Barnard, LP NEC // Louise Regan, Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Labour & Palestine at Labour Party Conference 2023. Kindly supported by Unite the Union.Please note you need a Labour Conference pass to attend this event.
Matt Willgress explains why activists have produced a model motion in solidarity with Palestine for this year’s Labour Party Conference
On Wednesday July 26, Palestinian news sources widely reported that Israeli Forces had shot and killed a Palestinian child during a raid in the illegally occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya, according to a statement released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Ministry said that Fares Abu Samra, 14, was critically wounded by Israeli gunfire. He was then taken to the Qalqilya governmental hospital before he was pronounced dead. This occurred as Israeli forces raided the eastern part of the city, leading to confrontations with young Palestinians, during which it has been reported the soldiers fired live and rubber-coated steel bullets against protestors, as well as toxic gas bombs towards citizens’ and their houses.
As Amnesty International noted in February this year, there is an increasing violent reality in occupied Palestine with Amnesty arguing in particular that Palestinian lives are in peril due to the increasingly aggressive policies of the new Israeli Government. This includes Israeli authorities constantly demolishing Palestinian homes whilst settlements, considered illegal under international law, are aggressively expanded.
These tragic examples – and many more could be given – clearly show the nature of the continuing illegal occupation of Palestine and denial of the Palestinian people’s fundamental rights.
While standing with Palestine is supported by most Labour party members and affiliates, far too often the party leadership does not clearly speak up for the Palestinian people.
In 2021, after Labour passed strong policy in support of Palestine, party leader Keir Starmer and then shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy moved to renounce the motion almost as soon as it was passed. This was in direct contrast to the specific demand of the motion itself that “the Labour Party must stand on the right side of history and abide by these resolutions in its policy, communications and political strategy.”
Continuing such an approach from Labour’s front bench would be a disaster for the Palestinian people, even more so with the prospect of a Labour Government on the horizon.
To this end, a model motion has been produced for this year’s Labour Party Conference in solidarity with Palestine, which was also a topic of discussion at the recent National Policy Forum. The motion is copied below and has been drafted by Labour & Palestine, and is being circulated by Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.
International solidarity can play an important role in highlighting the plight of the Palestinian people, including in terms of calling for an end to arms sales to Israel. We must speak up for Palestine and fight for Labour to be on the right side of history.
MODEL MOTION FOR LABOUR CONFERENCE 2023: JUSTICE FOR PALESTINE
Conference welcomes the Party’s commitment to the recognition of Palestine.
Conference recognises the increasingly violent reality facing Palestinians. This has been highlighted by the settler violence encouraged by the openly far-right elements in the Israeli Government and the renewed threat of the annexation of much of the West Bank, illegal under international law. This is an ongoing process aimed at eliminating any prospects of Palestinian self-determination.
Conference believes that Palestine should be a core component of a new Labour Government’s ethical foreign policy, which should be based on the principle of the universal application of international law.
Conference believes that a future Labour Government should make clear to Israel that there will be consequences for ongoing breaches of international law including effective measures such as sanctions for breaches of international law, no arms trade, encouraging divestment from complicit firms and the boycott of goods and services that support and profit from the illegal military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
To underpin this the Labour Party should support the investigations of the International Criminal court into alleged war crimes and commit to rescinding the Tory Government’s trade agreement with Israel which fails to provide for the existence of a Palestinian state.
The closing date for motions for Labour Party Conference 2023 is 5pm on Thursday 21 September 2023. Motions must be 250 words or fewer, cover one subject only and not cover an organisational matter.
As part of the ongoing crackdown on our civil liberties, the Government is reported to soon be bringing forward much anticipated “anti-boycott” legislation, which had already been opposed by 46 civil society groups in anticipation of the announcement.
In particular, the Government is seeking to take away from public bodies the right to decide not to purchase or procure from, or invest in companies involved in human rights abuse, abuse of workers’ rights, destruction of our planet, or any other harmful or illegal acts.
This “anti-boycott” Bill is in line with the Conservative Party’s last manifesto, which outlined an intention to introduce legislation to prohibit public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycott or divestment campaigns against foreign countries when the Government does not agree.
The direct nature of this attack on the international “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) demands of the movements around the world in solidarity with the Palestinian people is obvious, but of course the nature of the attack stretches far wider than that issue alone, effecting climate activists, all international solidarity campaigns, trade unions and many others.
Furthermore, it is not just a question of supporting BDS being under attack, but whether people even have the right to discuss it and make their own decisions.
For these reasons, Labour & Palestine and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have jointly drafted a model motion for local Labour parties to discuss defending our right to boycott and urging the Labour front bench to oppose this anti-democratic bill, which is copied in full below and can be downloaded here. Please take this to your next local meeting for discussion.
It is a moral and human right to conscientiously object to having our money used to buy or sell or invest in goods and arms being used by Israel to wage war on the Palestinian people. That is why Labour must oppose the Government’s proposed bill to outlaw the right to boycott and we hope you will be able to pass the motion. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
New Model Motion: Defend the Right to Boycott
This CLP Notes:
The government’s Foreign Affairs (Economic Activities of Public Bodies) bill, or anti-boycott bill, will limit the ability of public bodies to make ethical choices about spending and investment that reflect widespread public support for human rights, climate goals and international law.
The bill will shield companies engaged in human rights abuse or environmental destruction by preventing public bodies from cutting financial ties with them over abusive or illegal actions committed in a foreign state, unless expressly permitted to do so by the government.
Many companies who are involved in the abuse of human and workers’ rights, the destruction of our planet, and other illegal and harmful acts are not subject to government sanctions.
The Tories have indicated that a major reason for proposing this law is specifically to prevent public bodies from deciding not to invest in companies operating in Israel and occupied Palestine – even if they are complicit in the violation of international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.
A wide range of civil society organisations such as trade unions, charities, NGOs, faith, climate justice, human rights, cultural, campaigning, solidarity organisations and others are opposing this bill.
This CLP Believes:
Labour must oppose this. Public bodies and democratic institutions should be able to spend, invest and trade ethically in line with international law and human rights.
From bus boycotts against racial segregation to divestment from fossil fuel companies to arms embargoes against apartheid, boycott, divestment, and sanctions are non-violent campaigns that have been applied throughout history to put economic, cultural, or political pressure on a regime, institution or company to force it to change abusive, discriminatory, or illegal policies.
Labour Party Conference motions have repeatedly called for real and effective action in support of Palestinian rights.
This CLP Resolves:
To send this motion to the Labour NEC and relevant front bench members.
To support those in civil society mobilising in support of the right to boycott and divest.
Invite a speaker from the Right to Boycott campaign to our next meeting.
By Clare Baker, International Department, Unite the Union & Labour & Palestine.
My trade union UNITE has always been at the forefront of building solidarity with the Palestinians.
We regularly send and participate in delegations to Palestine to see the reality on the ground and to build relations with the people who need our support. We also support the PSC and have some fantastic twinning groups with communities in Palestine and our own community sector – such as with the Shu’fat refugee camp and the Lydd London solidarity group. Along with a number of other trade unions we’ve also been very much behind the initiative that established the Labour & Palestine platform – to give a voice for grassroots support for Palestine within the labour party,
As we know, the situation on the ground is getting more and more desperate for the Palestinians. This new Israeli government is the most right-wing in its history, but we need to be clear that they are only continuing the policies of previous governments.
However now they are being very open about their motives, and they are no longer hiding behind the veneer of a so-called democracy – that was never ever a democracy if you were Palestinian.
It is good to see that there is some push back against this new government.
But we also must ask where were the appalled expressions over the many years when the rights of Palestinians were trampled on, and over the illegal occupation?
The horrific attacks that we have seen since the beginning of the year, the terrorism that the state and settlers unleash against Palestinians, is quite astonishing to witness. From the attacks by the Israeli military in Jenin and Nablus to attacks by settlers (with the protection of the Israeli military) in Huwara – we see the complete destruction of homes and property and the loss of life.
We listen with horror at members of the new Israeli government publically talking about ethnically cleansing and expelling all Palestinians to Jordan, annexing parts of the West Bank, introducing a shoot to kill policy and even vocally expressing the wish that the state should wipe entire Palestinian towns off the map.
We also see the increasing criminalisation ofoppositionto Israeli government policies, such as the closing down and criminalisation of the 6 NGOs in Israel that fought for human rights.
The criminalisation of any opposition to far-right regimes and their policies of oppression and violence is a trend that we in Unite are seeing more and more in our international work. Calling aid workers, lawyers, teachers, opposition politicians and trade unionists terrorists is a tactic being used to great effect – with no international condemnation – by many states that are becoming more and more extreme.
And the response by the international community, many politicians and in particular by the UK government is one of silence – this is an absolute outrage and frankly hypocritical when it is so vocal in calling out Russia (quite rightly) for their crimes – but where the world’s governments reacted quickly and decisively and have committed to sanctions and boycotts of Russia, when it comes to the Israeli occupation and crimes against the Palestinians our government and many others are silent.
Not only is this hypocritical of the UK government when it plans to attack the right to boycott, but also by governments doing nothing the Israeli state is given a green light to continue their suppression, ethnic cleansing, and implementation of apartheid against the Palestinians.
UNITE fully supports the peaceful campaigning of the BDS movement as called for by the Palestinian civil society – just as we supported the BDS movement against apartheid South Africa as called for by the people there.
The BDS campaign is growing and getting stronger and is having a serious impact, which is why the Israeli government have poured huge amounts of money and resources into fighting it globally around the world and why the Tories are looking to introduce the anti-BDS law.
First and foremost, we need to be clear that this law represents a fundamental attack on basic democracy and peoples’ civil rights and should be viewed in the context as well as of the suite of Tory repressive legislation – such as that to restrict protestors and to attack the right to strike.
Although the law is primarily being proposed in order to stop the BDS campaign against Israeli apartheid, it will likely be written in a way that applies across the board – meaning that any similar BDS actions we might want to take in relation to say Turkey – a state that also occupies and ethnically cleanses, will be outlawed as well because the line of the Foreign Office is currently very pro-Turkey. Or, as we have already seen in the US anti-BDS legislation in certain states is used to silence those who campaign, for example for women’s reproductive rights, against fossil fuels and against guns – we need to understand that this is the thin end of the wedge and that they will go further if we don’t stop them now.
And can you imagine if this law had been in force back when South Africa was still an apartheid state? When Thatcher supported that regime and called Mandela a terrorist? It would have meant no local authorities or public institutions could have joined the boycott, sanctions, and divestment campaign to defeat that disgusting regime.
The situation that faces Palestinians is deteriorating rapidly, the international community cannot stand by and watch an extremist racist government ethnically cleanse, oppress and commit the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people with no consequence. Because, to keep excusing this, to stay silent or to continue to do business in the illegal settlements means that these international states or companies are complicit in every terrorist attack by the state or settlers that kills Palestinians, ethnically cleanses them from their homes and forces them to live in a system where they are discriminated against because of their race.
Within the Labour Party there is clear policy that was passed unanimously in 2021, that built on the position adopted at the 2020 TUC conference. It references the Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem reports and calls for effective measures including sanctions to be implemented in order to address Human rights abuses. And despite the leadership wanting to pretend the motion doesn’t exist and having no intention to act – the reality is – the motion was passed, and it does exist – and I applaud the work of Labour and Palestine in helping CLPs have the confidence to hold discussions within the framework of the motion as labour party policy.
Labour and Palestine have done a really good job in raising the plight of the Palestinian people within the Labour Party, and we will continue to do so, despite the difficult atmosphere that exists. But it really is high time now that the Labour Party as a whole, particularly the Labour Party leadership, starts making it crystal clear on where it stands in relation to this new far right Israeli Government and some of the appalling actions and decisions that are being taken and implemented. The Labour Party must always stand in solidarity with those facing the worst oppression, and where can the need for this be clearer today than to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians?
March for Palestine on Saturday May 13 – RSVP for Labour bloc here & see full details here.
Move the Labour & Palestine motion on Supporting Palestinian Human Rights at your local meeting – see here.
Support the Right to Boycott against upcoming Tory attacks – show support here & read more here.
This piece was originally published by Labour & Palestine and was based on a speech given at L&P’s recent Labour Women Speak Up for Palestine event.
Labour & Palestine 