April 2010
Under Labour, Britain has played a leading role in persuading the European Union to exert greater and more co-ordinated pressure on Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinians.
After the Gaza offensive of January 2009, Labour helped to persuade its European allies to postpone the planned upgrade of the EU-Israel Trade Agreement. Labour also tried to stop European countries voting against the Goldstone Report on Gaza – in order to send a message to the Israelis that they would have to agree to an independent inquiry into war crimes.
Labour is also the first government to take action against goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, first by refusing to allow them tariff reductions under the EU-Israel Trade Agreement and then by getting the supermarkets to agree to label them ‘Produce of Israeli Settlements’ so that they cannot be passed off as Israeli goods at customs or as Palestinian produce at the supermarkets.
Labour has also used what influence it has on US Presidents to try to persuade them to put more pressure on Israel on issues from the settlement freeze to Gaza, the wall and Jerusalem.
Unfortunately, they’ve had only limited success. Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East was set up a year ago as a voice for party members and supporters who want to see an end to the occupation and a viable and independent state of Palestine alongside Israel. Our position is in support of international law, and a recognition that peace and security for Israel as well as for Palestine can only be achieved by the end of the continued occupation of the West Bank, the siege of Gaza and the annexation of East Jerusalem.
We support all the declared policies of Labour ministers, but constantly press them to go further and exert more legal, political and economic pressure on Israel to abide by international law.
In the immediate term we need Labour to keep pressing for:
- A complete stop to settlement building
- The re-opening of all border crossings into Gaza
- The dismantling of the wall within the West Bank
- Free movement between the West Bank and Gaza
We want clear commitments in the manifesto that Labour will:
- Support the Goldstone Report and legal action on war crimes
- Suspend preferential tariffs under the EU-Israeli trade agreement
- Retain universal jurisdiction and arrest warrants for war crimes
- Negotiate with elected representatives whoever they are
- Return to the 1967 borders except where agreed by both sides
The prospect of a Conservative government in Britain is a terrible one for the Palestinians. It would signal a slackening of pressure on the Americans and a return to a much more pro-Israeli stance.
We will only avoid conflict in the Middle East and indeed between the Muslim world and the West if we apply international law equally to Israel and to other countries.
We know first-hand from the Palestinian president and Prime Minister that they value the role that Britain’s Labour government has played in promoting the peace process.
But they need us to go further. They cannot secure justice for themselves. They n eed the international community to enforce international law. They need us to play our part in that.
Martin Linton MP is the Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East
