Sunday, July 14, 2024

David Lammy calls for ceasefire as pressure mounts to ban arms exports to Israel

Ross Hunter
Sun, 14 July 2024 

David Lammy is meeting with Israeli and Palestinian political leaders during his trip to the Middle East (Image: Jonathan Brady)

THE Foreign Secretary has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as pressure mounts on the UK Government to end arms exports to Israel.

On Sunday, David Lammy is meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, on a trip to the Middle East.

He is expected to raise the urgent need for a ceasefire agreed by both sides, which includes the release of all hostages and a rapid increase of aid into Gaza.


As well as making the case for a two-state solution, Lammy is set to announce that the UK will provide another £5.5 million this year to UK-Med to fund its work in Gaza.

READ MORE: Calls to ban Israel arms exports after top Labour minister's comments

The medical aid charity sends experienced humanitarian medics, including those working in the NHS, to crisis-hit regions.

This funding will be used to support the ongoing work of its field hospitals and the emergency department at Nasser Hospital.

Lammy said: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable.

“This war must end now, with an immediate ceasefire, complied with by both sides.

“The fighting has got to stop, the hostages still cruelly detained by Hamas terrorists need to be released immediately and aid must be allowed in to reach the people of Gaza without restrictions.

David Lammy is due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

“I am meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to stress the UK’s ambition and commitment to play its full diplomatic role in securing a ceasefire deal and creating the space for a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.

“The world needs a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.”

He added: “Central to this is to see an end to expanding illegal Israeli settlements and rising settler violence in the West Bank.

“Here, in what should be a crucial part of a Palestinian state, alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem, we need to see a reformed and empowered Palestinian Authority.”

In Israel, Lammy will hold high level talks with Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog to reiterate the need to end the fighting in Gaza.

READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn 'in talks' with SNP over 'left-wing alliance'

In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Foreign Secretary will welcome the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to delivering reform and reiterate the UK’s support for its government.

It’s believed that Israel’s latest strike on Gaza killed at least 90 people in the south of the territory.

The Israelis say the attack was targeted Hamas’ military commander Mohammed Deif, but it was not known whether he was among the dead.

It comes as pressure mounts for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to end arms exports to Israel after appointing Richard Hermer KC as Attorney General for England and Wales.

Hermer has previously said that Israel’s siege in Gaza was “very, very difficult to reconcile with obligations of international law – and that is a deliberate understatement.”

The appointment of Hermer led the SNP and Scottish Greens to reaffirm calls for an end to UK arms sales to Israel.

Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said it was the duty of the UK Government to try and bring the war to an end.

”This weekend Israel has again targeted camps of displaced people in Gaza, unleashing a wave of killing and destruction.

"So, we are looking for action, not just more words, from the Foreign Secretary.

"It is Britain’s duty under international law to do everything it can to bring these war crimes to an end.

"Lammy must not only restore funding to UNRWA, long overdue, he must send the clearest signal that Israel’s actions are completely unacceptable, and impose an arms embargo immediately.

“International law demands an arms embargo.

The British public overwhelmingly support it. And, at a time when many countries see only double standards from countries like Britain, an arms embargo would go some way to rebuilding the global trust we so desperately need.

"This is not a difficult decision - Lammy must act now.”

David Lammy ‘closely considering’ resuming funding for UNRWA

Henry Bodkin
Sat, 13 July 2024 

Britain suspended financial aid for UNRWA in January but David Lammy, the new Foreign Secretary, is said to be reviewing the move - Wiktor Szymanowicz/Shutterstock


David Lammy is “closely considering” resuming funding for the UN’s humanitarian body for Gaza, despite alleged links to Hamas.

Britain suspended financial aid for the United National Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) in January, following claims that its members had taken part in the Oct 7 atrocity, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 people taken hostage.

Israel has claimed that more than 1,400 of the organisation’s workers were members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, approximately 12 per cent of the agency’s workforce in Gaza.

A number of employees were subsequently sacked.


A Palestinian woman in the Gaza strip after an alleged Israeli strike - Mohammed Salem/REUTERS

Even before the current war, which has devastated much of the enclave, UNRWA was crucial to maintaining basic services, including education, with most of its staff coming from Palestinian society.

However, the accusations of links to Hamas drew global criticism.

In April an independent review led by Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign minister, said the agency must improve its screening of staff for pro-Hamas sentiments.

The previous month the agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said it was not possible to weed out all staff members who have pro-Hamas sentiments.

Barbara Woodward said UNWRA was 'providing essential services to Palestinian refugees' - Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo

Speaking at the UN on Friday, Barbara Woodward, the UK’s Permanent Representative to the UN, revealed that Mr Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, is “closely considering” resuming UK funding to UNRWA.

“Palestinians in Gaza are facing humanitarian catastrophe and the very real risk of famine,” she told the UNRWA Pledging Conference. “For months they have suffered unbearable hardship without the food and protection from harm that they need.”

She said the UK was committed to alleviating the suffering and delivering aid to civilians, adding: “We recognise that UNRWA is absolutely central to these efforts.

“It is playing a critically important role in getting aid to those who need it in Gaza and providing essential services, including healthcare and education, to Palestinian refugees across the region.”

Ms Woodward said Britain had been “appalled” by the allegations of UNRWA staff being involved in the Oct 7 massacre.

But she said the UK was committed to the aid agency.

“We are confident that UNRWA is taking robust action in response to Catherine Colonna’s independent review, to ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality, transparency and accountability.”

Senior Conservatives, including likely leadership contender Suella Braverman, had publicly called for Lord Cameron, the previous foreign secretary, not to resume Britain’s support for the agency.

One unnamed Tory said the decision would be “morally bankrupt”.

Upon becoming Prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer called for a ceasefire that leads to a sustainable peace for both Israelis and Palestin
ians and the release of all hostages, as well as more humanitarian aid for Gaza.

UK Foreign Secretary visits Israel and West Bank and calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza


Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street after a cabinet meeting, in London, Tuesday July 9, 2024. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

BY MELANIE LIDMAN
July 14, 2024

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The new British foreign secretary called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Sunday, his second international trip since Labour’s resounding victory in elections earlier this month.

David Lammy said the ongoing war in Gaza is “intolerable” and stressed in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leadership that Britain wants to assist with diplomatic efforts “securing a cease-fire deal and creating the space for a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.”

Lammy met Sunday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He will meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday. During his visit, Lammy will also meet with families of hostages currently being held in Gaza who have ties to the U.K. He called for the release of all hostages and a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

Lammy demanded Israel halt settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, and said that the Palestinian Authority needs to be “reformed and empowered.”

Both Lammy’s Labour Party and the previous Conservative government initially avoided calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war, using phrases like “humanitarian pause.” But the language has got stronger. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Netanyahu last week there was a “clear and urgent need for a cease-fire.”

Labour’s stance on the Gaza war cost it votes in this month’s U.K. election. Although the party won in a landslide, pro-Palestinian independents defeated Labour candidates in several seats with large Muslim populations.

Lammy’s comments came the day after Israel said it had targeted Hamas’ shadowy military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people, including children, according to local health officials.

Top Hamas officials said on Sunday that the negotiations for a possible cease-fire deal had not been halted because of the attack. Hamas also denied that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, the target of the strike, was killed and said Israel’s “false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre.”

Deif and Hamas’ top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, are believed by Israel to be the chief architects of the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped 250, triggering the Israel-Hamas war.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,400 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

——

Jill Lawless in London contributed reporting.

No comments:

Post a Comment