Senior MPs
and advisers call on Cameron and Miliband to speak out more forcefully against
killing of Palestinian civilians
The Guardian, Rowena Mason, political correspondent, Thursday 31 July 2014
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| A soldier carries a tank shell on to a Merkava tank inside southern Israel, close to the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA |
David
Cameron and Ed Miliband have been urged by senior MPs within their own parties
to demand more forcefully that Israel stops its bombardment of Gaza.
In a
significant intervention, Margot James, a No 10 policy board adviser and
parliamentary aide to William Hague, has written to the new foreign secretary,
Philip Hammond, urging him to rethink the government's stance, calling Israel's
actions disproportionate.
Stressing
that she has been a firm supporter of Israel for many years, James wrote to
Hammond: "I ask that the government rethinks policy towards the conflict
in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The scale of suffering in Gaza is
far too great, the loss of life, and particularly the lives of children and
other vulnerable individuals, cannot be justified on the grounds of defence in
proportion to the level of threat faced by Israel from Hamas."
So far,
Cameron has stood up for Israel's right to defend itself and blamed Hamas for
starting the conflict, while calling for an immediate ceasefire to end the
bloodshed.
The former
Northern Ireland minister Sir Peter Bottomley wrote to the chief whip, Michael
Gove, criticising the "devastation and death" and arguing that most
MPs in the centre of the Conservative party felt the same.
"We
all know that Israel has the right to exist, we all know that the attacks on
Israel should cease, we know that Israel's settlements and their treatment of
Palestinians is provocative. That's the foundation. The issue now is if Israel
is relying on other people to be silent, they'll go on with a lack of
proportionality and the devastation and the death.
"Anyone
who looks at the pictures of what's going on presently in Gaza must know that
the Israelis know what they're doing and what they're doing is wrong,"
Bottomley told the BBC. "Many Israelis know it's wrong. [The prime
minister Binyamin] Netanyahu may have support, but Israelis know that if you go
killing people at this rate, the disregard for the life of Palestinians is
going to show up in the world as a bad mark for Israel."
In contrast
to the Conservatives, Labour opposes the invasion of Gaza.
Douglas
Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "The growing number of
Palestinian civilians being killed is rightly provoking international outrage,
and the continuing incursion into Gaza risks further international isolation
for Israel and further international condemnation of its actions."
However,
Diane Abbott, a Labour MP and former shadow minister, said she would like to
see Cameron, Miliband and the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, do more to
put pressure on the Israelis to stop the shelling.
"Leaders
of all the parties need to be a great deal more emphatic in their condemnation
of what's happening in Gaza," she told the Guardian. "Public opinion
in all quarters, including Margot James who has always supported Israel, is
horrified about what is happening. There is increasingly a consensus among
ordinary people that they want to see the British political leadership speak
out more emphatically. Part of it is people trying to keep in step with
America, but things have gone so far, British leadership have to be prepared
now to question America's support for what Israel is doing."
Several
other senior Labour MPs had tweeted about the issue. Jon Trickett, a shadow
cabinet office minister, wrote: "My mothers [sic] family were Jewish but what's happening in Palestine is #NotInMyName." Sadiq Khan, the shadow
justice secretary, quoted the words of the UN's Ban Ki-moon, who said shelling
of a school in Gaza was "Outrageous, unjustifiable and demands
accountability and justice".
The US said
on Thursday that casualties in Gaza were "too high" and Israel needed
to do more to protect civilian life. However, the Foreign Office position
remained the same. A spokesman said: "The UK is deeply concerned about the
current situation in Gaza and the tragic loss of life on all sides. The foreign
secretary has been absolutely clear that there needs to be an immediate and
unconditional ceasefire to help alleviate the appalling humanitarian situation.
All our efforts must be focused on achieving that ceasefire. Demands to take a
different tack will simply dilute attempts to secure that."
Related Articles:
Gaza conflict: US says Israeli attack on UN school was 'totally unacceptable'
UN: 'world stands disgraced' as shelter for Gaza children is shelled by Israel
 |
A
Palestinian girl cries while receiving treatment for her injuries
caused by an
Israeli tank shelling at a UN school in Jebaliya
refugee camp, 30 July 2014. Photograph:
Khalil Hamra/AP
|
Related Articles:
Gaza conflict: US says Israeli attack on UN school was 'totally unacceptable'
UN: 'world stands disgraced' as shelter for Gaza children is shelled by Israel
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