How many more children will die? An immediate ceasefire is essential in Gaza

I am proud that the Labour Party has demonstrated moral courage in speaking out against Israel’s military incursion in the Gaza Strip. The failure of the international community to halt, or in many cases to even condemn, Israel’s incursion into the Gaza strip represents a failure of our international legal and political institutions and shames our shared humanity.

The Prime Minister and the newly appointed Foreign Secretary have refused to admit that Israel’s military actions, which have so far claimed the lives of over 1430 Palestinians – most of whom are innocent civilians – are disproportionate.

Israeli forces have killed more than 320 children, since the start of their offensive on the 8th July 2014. 450,000 people have been internally displaced within Gaza and its people are facing a humanitarian crisis due to the destruction of its civil infrastructure. As the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman said last week, ‘every civilian death, Israeli and Palestinian, is an equal tragedy and whilst it is true that the conflict cannot simply be reduced to a ledger of casualties, we must recognise that the only way to avoid the cycle of violence and perpetual insecurity in the region is to address the root causes of the conflict’.

Many Labour colleagues in recent weeks have also drawn attention to the need to address the root causes of this conflict: ending Israel’s Occupation of the Palestinian territories and the blockade of Gaza.

Twenty one years since the Oslo Accords and both Israel and Palestine are further away from peace than ever before. An entire generation of young Palestinians – ‘the Oslo Generation’  – have grown up to witness a worsening situation on the ground. Significant expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, heightened security threats to both sides, the construction of an illegal separation barrier, punitive restrictions on Palestinian movement, the arrest and imprisonment of Palestinian children, administrative detentions without charge, economic decline, and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza are the context in which this outbreak of violence must be understood and are the root causes which must be addressed.

Like many of my friends, colleagues and others, I have watched the harrowing scenes of death, destruction and hopelessness in Gaza in the face of a continuing Israeli military incursion. I watched with a heavy heart as UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness broke down in tears during a live interview, as Channel 4’s Jon Snow shared the trauma of what he witnessed in Gaza and as the U.N. spokesperson Jens Laerke said “there is literally no safe place [left] for civilians in Gaza”. What hope can we offer, when neither schools, hospitals, playgrounds or homes are safe?

Tuesdays’ attack on a UNRWA school – the sixth time a UN school has been attacked in the conflict – which killed 19 civilians many of them children and injured many more, came despite Israel having been told 17 times that the building was being used to house refugees.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay recently accused Israel of acting in deliberate defiance of its obligations under international law and said that world powers should hold it accountable for possible war crimes. The right of Israel to defend its borders and protect its civilian population does not extend to giving it licence to commit wholesale slaughter of civilians and the maiming of children in Gaza.

Israel’s deliberate targeting of hospitals, UN schools and refuge centres, Gaza’s only power station and its systematic destruction of the civilian electricity and water supplies is illegal under international law and Israel should be held accountable for   its actions. 

A lack of reaction from the international community will not only fail to protect the lives of innocent Palestinian civilians, it will embolden Israel and give Israeli forces the nod to continue committing such crimes. If we are serious about peace, serious action must be taken to ensure that the crimes committed in Gaza these past few weeks never happen again. Focusing exclusively on negotiations, whilst failing to hold Israel accountable for its human rights violations and annexation of Palestinian land, is not enough.

I wholeheartedly endorse the comments made by the Shadow Foreign Secretary in which he said “the bloodshed must stop, the blockade must be lifted and the occupation must end”.  Douglas Alexander’s comments reflect the values of the Labour Party along with the views of the majority of its members and voters. It is imperative that the next Labour Government acknowledges the wider context and root causes of the conflict and follows up its commendable statements with the advancement of practical measures setting out of clear parameters, targets and consequences for the failure to end violations (on both sides) and make progress, including sanctions.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary asked yesterday “how many more children will die?” Like many of you, I have been appalled at the response of the UK Government and Prime Minister and hope that the international community is able to pull together and not only broker an immediate ceasefire but ensure an end to this horrific cycle of violence.

An immediate ceasefire is essential on humanitarian grounds but mutual respect for international law and conventions is however required for a just and lasting peace.

Grahame Morris MP is Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East