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This is an extract from a press statement issued by the National Union of Teachers following today’s House of Commons debate on Gaza, December 2. Thanks to Ian.
“It is not acceptable for education professionals to be attacked. Neither should teachers in Gaza be prevented from entering the classroom. Teachers need support, not punishment”
This morning in the House of Commons the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (theresa May) told the Chamber that UK aid is in no way “to support or fund the illegal activity of Hamas in Gaza”. It was a chilling misrepresentation of what was really going on, and a denial of basic facts.
The UN has reported that:
“In its meeting today, the Security Council recalled the obligations under international humanitarian law for ensuring the protection of civilians under all circumstances and under all circumstances condemns Israel’s disproportionate use of force against civilians”.
The Government cannot continue to use such dangerous and baseless falsehoods.
There was, as the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (theresa May) put it this afternoon, “an awful catalogue of destruction” in the strip and “indiscriminate attacks on civilians.”
If this were so, what does that say about British and international policy towards the region? If a terrorist group fired rockets at British schools and killing and maiming innocent men, women and children it would be rightly described as a ‘blatant disregard for human life.’ No longer would there be any defence for a lack of military response: an all-out assault would take place. No such attacks have taken place in Israel, yet it is in this context that we should be judging the violence of Hamas.
The argument of ‘proportionality’ used to explain the death of civilians carries no weight. Hamas are terrorists who in their charter state, ‘there is no solution for the Palestinian problem except through Jihad.’
This can only be ‘proportional’ in the sense of proportionality of justice – with a punishment fitting the crime. This would be no less appropriate against terrorists, and should be applied to those that train them and encourage them to commit these attacks.
In recent months there has been an unprecedented scale of rocket and missile fire out of Gaza, with thousands of shells fired. But these are the smallest numbers since the Oslo agreement (1997).
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (theresa May) made her comments this afternoon while on a trip to India. Let us see what people think in the countries surrounding Gaza:
A spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs said this afternoon: “Our position on the Middle East is consistent and clear. We see eye to eye with the British government and we share its deep concern over the present situation in Gaza and the Middle East. We reject attempts to portray us as anti-Israel. We condemn the indiscriminate rocket attacks that Israel has been facing and the Palestinian authorities must take steps to address the root cause of the terror by stopping indiscriminate attacks from inside Gaza and to bring an end to shelling of Israel from Gaza. India is strongly in favour of the implementation of the 2003 ceasefire. We demand that the Palestinian authorities must implement the ceasefire.”
Egypt called for an end to “all violence” in a joint statement by the Arab League and the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. The statement called on Israel to halt all its operations in Gaza while calling Hamas to stop its attacks. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry made similar comments, demanding an immediate ceasefire. The Egyptian news service, al-Masriya has reported Hamas sources as claiming victory, ‘that the Egyptian military had taken out a major Israeli naval base and has also taken out missile defence systems.’
Last month The United Nations warned that the situation in Gaza would cause a mass exodus of refugees. Today the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (theresa May) called the situation in Gaza a ‘humanitarian crisis’ and demanded an ‘immediate ceasefire.’
This can only be described as an attempt to deflect attention from the failure of Palestinian leadership. Hamas have in recent years taken the role of governing Gaza from Fatah, after winning elections. The PA, the UN, and Egypt have supported them in this, but to no avail. With peace talks frozen, Hamas has become deeply unpopular in the Gaza Strip. Only a very small proportion of the two million Palestinians living in the strip can afford to travel to neighbouring countries for medical treatment – the majority simply live day-to-day, lacking the ability to provide for their children, or even afford food.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (theresa May) is demanding an immediate ceasefire while ignoring what the international community is already doing. This does not help: Hamas will continue to fire rockets and missiles, despite the blockade – this is clear to see from the amount of arms in Gaza. It is time for Israel to accept the loss of life from Palestinian rockets and missiles as a result of the blockade, and to engage with Hamas and the Arab world to end this brutal blockade.
The Government has already announced that it has cancelled its Christmas break, and that will mean a further £85,000 will be spent on the military over the winter.
Meanwhile there are thousands of innocent people in Gaza; they are not part of Hamas’ ‘humanitarian crisis’.
What do people think? Do you agree? Write to the Prime Minister and ask him to stop the attacks now:
Theresa May will be out today on a trip to India, where she will be ‘urging India to join the Group of Eight nations that have called for a lasting ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians’. The PM also ‘wants to raise India’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme.’
Iran’s nuclear programme is part of their stated policy to destroy Israel. The threat that Iran presents to the Middle East has been made repeatedly clear in statements by senior politicians in the region.
Yet Israel is a much greater military threat to the region than Iran. It is not acceptable for us to seek to deflect attention from our own failings with comments like that of the Prime Minister, just as it was not acceptable for her to try and deflect criticism of the bombing of Gaza by saying that Gaza ‘will be worse off…’ It was not a mistake.
It is now time for the Government to put their money where their mouth is. Let us have an end to these attacks on Gaza.
Yesterday, the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in support of sending humanitarian aid to Gaza. Over 40 Labour MPs voted for aid. A total of 36 Labour MPs voted against the Government motion – the highest amount of Labour MPs to ever vote against the Government on this issue. We should congratulate those who voted for aid and ask why this was not a unanimous vote. There was even a motion by the Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, that was supported by a majority of Labour MPs!
Some of the main reasons why Labour MPs voted against the motion were:
that is was not just about Gaza and Israel; it was to have been about all situations in the world where the use of force is used – including in Libya and in the US
the Government was not even clear what their definition of humanitarian aid was
they did not want to give aid to Hamas; they should have put their objection on the record.
and that
the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza requires a political solution rather than humanitarian aid
The vote was disappointing. It sent the wrong message that we were not seriously concerned with giving aid to people in conflict and that we are simply uncaring about innocent civilians, who suffer even worse at the hands of the Assad regime in Syria.
On 2nd December 2012, in a vote in the House of Commons, on the motion ‘That this House is committed to the security and stability of Israel, recognises that this can only be achieved through a negotiated solution and calls on the Government of Israel to cease all hostilities against Hamas’, 36 Labour MPs voted against. No other motion was so controversial, as a result of which so many Labour MPs voted against the Government.
Since the last debate on this subject, Hamas has continued to rain missiles and shells down on Israeli civilians. It is therefore particularly important to consider what effect we will be having if we vote again today.
On Tuesday 27 October, the United Nations humanitarian co-ordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Robert Piper stated:
“The scale of the humanitarian emergency in Gaza has grown to a point that requires international attention”, “It is difficult to envisage a more densely populated area on Earth – more than a million people, many of whom are children, live in spaces built for half that number.”
“At the same time, there has been a huge build-up of the population in Gaza, with people arriving from Syria and Egypt, which has overwhelmed the capacity of UN and other agencies to deliver aid.”
“The damage caused to water and sanitation networks has made the situation even worse, and there is a real prospect of severe damage to the water infrastructure, as wells as other critical systems.”
However the only thing this has resulted in, is further isolation of Gaza from the outside world.
There is an awful catalogue of destruction. There is an ongoing humanitarian crisis and no peace process. With continued international complicity in this blockade, it is impossible to expect Hamas to take any responsibility for it. If they ever had a sincere desire for peace, it must now be clear to all that such an aspiration
