The heart-breaking loss of life in the Middle East has shocked and deeply saddened Portsmouth people, and some constituents have raised concerns, shared by Stephen Morgan MP, about this issue and how this is a matter of great concern to them.
The past few months have seen an appalling terrorist attack on Israel and the taking of hostages followed by intolerable loss of life and a dire humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.
Following his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in September, and as a member of Labour Friends of Palestine, Stephen has been taking a range of meaningful actions to call on the Government to do all it can to work with international partners to secure an end to fighting, the release of hostages and for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Stephen’s actions on these issues are well documented with regular updates to his website and questions raised in Parliament in the public domain. Information about this can be found here.
The Leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer set out in his Chatham House speech in October that the long-term solution to this conflict will involve an end to the fighting and a political process towards two states.
Since then, despite the demands of the international community, calls for Israel to show restraint have fallen on deaf ears, while the hostages taken by Hamas remain captive and rockets continue to be fired.
Despite the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ, the flow of aid into Gaza remains unacceptably restricted, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, the situation in the West Bank has continued to worsen and the risks of regional escalation have grown.
There is serious and growing international alarm at the prospect of Israel launching a military offensive in Rafah. Around 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering there with nowhere safe to go, having previously been told to flee there by the Israeli military. Rafah is also the gateway for aid to Gaza, at a time when the humanitarian situation is already dire, and the UN says hundreds of thousands of people face starvation. Any intensive military offensive in Rafah risks catastrophic consequences for the civilian population and fatal disruption to the humanitarian operation.
On Sunday, Keir Starmer said that the offensive in Rafah must not go ahead and the fighting must stop now.
Stephen wrote to the Foreign Office Minister about these issues last week. A copy of the letter can be found here.
In line with this, yesterday the Official Opposition tabled an amendment to a debate in Parliament setting out Labour’s position on the conflict. It makes clear that:
- An Israeli ground offensive in Rafah must not take place and aid must reach those in need. An offensive in Rafah would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences for Palestinian civilians and must be averted. Civilians in Gaza need rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief.
- Hamas must release and return all hostages. The families of the remaining hostages are frozen in uncertainty, anguish and pain and their continued detention is prolonging this war. They should be released and returned immediately.
- The government should join calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire aligns us with the position of key allies including Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and reflects the language used by the UN Secretary General and supported by more than 150 countries. Our amendment calls on the UK Government to convene an urgent session of the UN Security Council to press this demand and to call for rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief to be provided in Gaza.
- For a ceasefire to hold, all parties must comply with its terms. One sided demands that do not recognise the need to ensure that an attack like October 7th cannot happen again or do not condemn Hamas terrorism will not succeed. Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence.
- We support diplomatic mediation efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire. We believe an immediate humanitarian ceasefire will make these efforts more likely to succeed.
- Israel must comply with the ICJ ruling. As Labour has made clear, the binding provisional measures issued by the court must be implemented in full.
- Settlement expansion and settler violence must end. Settlements are illegal under international law and a serious barrier to peace that threaten the viability of a two state solution. Settler violence has reached dangerous new levels since October 7th.
- We need a political process towards a two state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a sovereign and viable Palestinian state. This is the only path to a just and lasting peace. A ceasefire with no political horizon will not be sustainable.
- Supports recognition of Palestine and makes clear this must be a contribution to rather than outcome of a two state solution. Statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and not in the gift of any neighbour.
Stephen called on the Government to support this approach and to help secure an end to fighting and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire when lobbying the Foreign Secretary. A copy of the letter can be found here
Labour’s comprehensive amendment before the House of Commons today addresses not only the need to stop the fighting now, but the pathway to stopping the fighting permanently. Stephen Morgan MP put his name to that amendment and will be voting for it this evening (Wednesday 21 February).
The motion proposed by the SNP today has nothing to say about the long-term path to peace. It does not fully explain how a lasting ceasefire can be achieved and fails to set out that this ceasefire must be fully observed by all sides. It makes no mention of a two-state solution or Palestinian Statehood. It does not reference the important ICJ ruling.
For these reasons, Labour put forward an amendment that properly articulates the current situation and the meaningful action needed to bring about an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
The wording of the motion is as follows:
Labour Ceasefire Amendment
That this House believes that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah risks catastrophic humanitarian consequences and therefore must not take place;
notes the intolerable loss of Palestinian life, the majority being women and children;
condemns the terrorism of Hamas who continue to hold hostages;
supports Australia, Canada and New Zealand’s calls for Hamas to release and return all hostages and for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which means an immediate stop to the fighting and a ceasefire that lasts and is observed by all sides, noting that Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence and that Israelis have the right to the assurance that the horror of 7th October cannot happen again;
therefore supports diplomatic mediation efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire;
demands that rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief is provided in Gaza;
demands an end to settlement expansion and violence;
urges Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures;
calls for the UN Security Council to be meet urgently;
and urges all international partners to work together to establish a diplomatic process to deliver the peace of a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state, including working with international partners to recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to rather than outcome of that process, because statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and not in the gift of any neighbour.
