In advance of the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on 22-25 September, Dr Phyllis Starkey and Richard Burden, both former Labour MPs and both Balfour Project Trustees, set out eight targets for Keir Starmer’s Government to restore balance to UK policy. This entails more effective measures with regards to Israel and affirmation of the Palestinian right to self-determination.
Political parties across Europe and in the USA have failed woefully to take the actions necessary to bring an end to the carnage that has been taking place in the Middle East since 7 Oct last year.
Britain is no exception. For Labour supporters, the timidity of the Party on this issue in opposition was particularly disappointing given the priority that Labour has historically given to upholding human rights and international law. That said, since taking office, the Labour Government has made significant, if cautious, changes to the lamentably one-sided approach that its Conservative predecessor displayed on Israel/Palestine.
In line with the Asks set out at the annual Conference of the Balfour Project in June; UNRWA funding was restored, the UK challenge to the right of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against Israeli politicians was withdrawn, and support for the independence of both the ICC and the International Court for Justice (ICJ) affirmed. A legal review of previous advice on Israel’s compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was initiated and a further review of the legal implications of the landmark ruling by the ICJ of the illegality of Israel’s Occupation announced in late July. The first action arising from these legal reviews was revealed on 2 Sept, when the immediate suspension of 30 arms sales licences was announced as there were “clear risks” these arms might be used by Israel “in serious violations of IHL in Gaza”. Although this action is welcome, the suspended licences represent a mere 10 per cent of extant UK licences on arms to Israel.
Since June, the situation on the ground has gone from nightmarishly bad to even worse; in Gaza the death toll has risen, the provision of humanitarian aid has fallen, the destruction of essential public infrastructure continues, the threat of a polio epidemic looms, and the hostages remain. Now the Israeli Government seems determined to impose the same regime of overwhelming force and displacement on the population of the West Bank, with Israeli Ministers openly encouraging ethnic cleansing, and violent settlers armed and unchecked. The continuing risk of further escalation involving Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Iran and other regional players will remain, unless a ceasefire in Gaza is achieved.
In a recent excoriating article[1] Daniel Levy set out how US policies only strengthen Netanyahu “-whose political preference in the short term is an open-ended war, not a deal”. Arguing that US diplomatic strategy was not working, he continued “the only way to de-escalate in the region and to bring the horrors of Gaza to an end continues to be via challenging the Israeli incentive structure in meaningful ways – through legal, political and economic pressure and sanctions, and especially by the withholding of weapons”.
The same changes are required in UK policy, without which Britain risks being complicit in Israel’s continuing war crimes. The ICJ Advisory Opinion of 19 July ruled that “Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory[2] is unlawful”; that “the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible”; and that all states “should not render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” [3]
The UK Government must now:
- Recognise the State of Palestine, alongside the State of Israel on the land illegally occupied by Israel since 1967, acknowledging the right of the Palestinian people to national self-determination and to demonstrate our respect for equal national and individual rights for both Palestinians and Israelis
- Review all arms sales to Israel in line with the UK’s obligations under the international Arms Trade Treaty, and suspend any further current or existing arms licences that risk being involved with breaches of IHL; stop buying military security equipment from Israeli companies; and end any logistical support, including intelligence, to Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and the West Bank;
- In line with the ICJ’s confirmation that all Israeli settlements on occupied land are illegal, ban trade with those settlements, and ban UK-based companies (including banks and other financial institutions) from all involvement with settlements or their support structure;
- Widen its advice to UK–based businesses to highlight the economic, legal and reputational risks of involvement with the unlawful Occupation or with Israel’s war on Gaza;
- Impose sanctions, modelled on those in force against Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the Donbas, on those involved in the funding or construction of settlements and their underlying infrastructure;
- Vote in the UN Security Council to enforce ICJ measures over Israel’s actions in Rafah;
- Increase existing UK sanctions against violent settlers, all those who incite violence against Palestinian civilians, or advocate dispossession, expulsion or genocide, and the organisations that fund these activities, including those outside Israel;
- Support the ICJ, ICC and UN Human Rights Council in holding to account all parties involved in breaches of international law, whether Israeli or Palestinian. [4]
Phyllis Starkey (Labour MP for Milton Keynes South West 1997-2010)
Richard Burden (Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield 1992-2019)
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/27/israel-gaza-us-diplomacy, also reprinted on the Balfour Project website as A warning for the Candidate.
[2] The legal definition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory includes Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank
[3] https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf
[4] Without accountability, the starvation of a population, the targeting of health, education and other vital civilian infrastructure, the misuse of dual use lists, and the use of Artificial Intelligence algorithms programmed to accept a disproportionate rate of civilian death, will all become established military practice and a starting point for abuses by Israel, or by others, in subsequent wars.