New MP chairs of Labour Palestine group: ‘Let’s recognise Palestine now’

While we are both delighted to take on the roles of co-chairs of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME), we are acutely conscious of the sheer level of pain, suffering and horror affecting Palestinians and those across the region.

We had hoped to make the announcement at a more hopeful time, but as recent events have shown, hope has been in such short supply.

It can often feel hard not to give in to despair. The scale of devastation and suffering in Gaza is beyond words. Over 50,000 people killed, well over 100,000 injured, a healthcare system dismantled, an aid blockade in full effect, and almost the entirety of Gaza’s population having been displaced – often multiple times.

The reality facing Israeli hostages is bleak, with 59 still estimated to be in Gaza but many presumed to have already been killed by their captors. Even where hostages have been released, Hamas has subjected them to grotesque and inhumane treatment, proving yet further that they can play no role in the future of Gaza.

We must create hope where there is none

We saw thousands of Palestinians marching against Hamas last week to make this same statement.

The West Bank does not currently offer much hope either. Israeli tanks are there for the first time in decades, de facto annexation is happening in real time, and there is a rapid expansion of settlement activity along with the accompanying settler violence and displacement of historic Palestinian communities.

The situation across this entire landscape is intolerable. But we must create hope where there is none. That is why it is incumbent on the international community – including the UK – to step up and play a proactive part in changing the status quo and bringing about the future we all want to see.

READ MORE: ‘Detaining MPs shows Israel is no ally to Britain. Labour must change tack’

For its part, we’ve been glad to see the new UK government take a number of positive steps on Gaza, Palestine and the region.

In just a matter of months, it has worked for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages. It has restored funding to UNRWA, funded additional aid efforts, and supported the Arab Plan for Gaza.

It has put international law at the centre of its response, reversed the previous government’s objection to the ICC, condemned settlement expansion and settler violence, sanctioned settler groups, and called out Israel’s blockages on aid.

And of course, it has undertaken a comprehensive review of arms sales to Israel with the resulting suspension of arms transfers.

The UK should immediately recognise the State of Palestine

It is important to remember how far things have come in less than a year. None of these would have been imaginable under the previous government, who could barely bring themselves to call for a ceasefire or to fund UNRWA, let alone suspend arms sales and back the ICC.

But we would like the government to go further. Our longstanding position is that the UK government should immediately recognise the State of Palestine as an essential marker on the path to a two-state solution.

The government must also examine targeted sanctions on extremist far-right Israeli ministers as well as effective differentiation between green line Israel and its settlements in the West Bank. This should include a targeted restriction on goods entering the UK from illegal settlements.

What recent events have shown more than anything is that we cannot continue to feed the status quo and that there must be a strong international effort to change it.

The old ways of approaching this are failing Palestinians and they’re failing regional security, leading only to the erosion of the territorial viability for a Palestinian state. The longer we wait, the more impossible a two-state solution will become.

This is what we are putting at the core of LFPME, building on a decade and a half of its important work on Palestine and the wider region. We encourage all Labour members, councillors, CLPs, MPs, this government, and others to join us in doing so.

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