Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Official Report 1258KB pdf

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Palestine

The final item of business this evening is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-13609, in the name of Humza Yousaf, on immediate recognition of the state of Palestine.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament notes calls urging the UK Government to join its European neighbours, Ireland, Spain and Norway, in immediately recognising the State of Palestine; understands that 144 member states of the United Nations recognise Palestine as a sovereign state; believes that a two-state solution is the only viable path for peace between Israel and Palestine, and that there can only be a two-state solution if a sovereign Palestinian state is immediately recognised and co-exists alongside Israel; further believes that Palestinian statehood is an inalienable right of the people of Palestine, not a privilege that can be vetoed by others; notes in horror the continued suffering of the people of Gaza; commends aid organisations, and community groups across Scotland, including in Glasgow Pollok, which are donating funds and sending aid to ease the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza; notes the calls urging the Government of Israel to allow unimpeded access to Gaza for humanitarian aid, and further notes the calls for an immediate ceasefire, an end to arms sales to Israel and the immediate release of all hostages.

18:25  

I thank members from across the Parliament for supporting my motion today and for taking time out of their busy campaign diaries to speak on this most important of issues.

During my last speech from the front bench, I promised to continue speaking up for those whose voices have been suppressed. I hope that today’s motion is a clear demonstration of my commitment to do just that. In discussions on the issue of Israel and Palestine, there has been significant focus on the dreadful terrorist attacks on 7 October and the atrocious killing of more than 35,000 Gazans thereafter. That focus is somewhat understandable, of course.

However, it is important to note that the violence and injustices in that region did not begin on 7 October last year. I do not intend to go into a detailed history of Israel and Palestine. There are far more knowledgeable people than me who have written in depth about the history of Palestine and Israel. What is indisputable, however, is that cycles of violence will continue and many more innocent people will be killed unless we address the root causes. Unfortunately, in our lifetimes, we have seen far too many innocent people, both Palestinian and Israeli, killed due to the international community’s failure to bring about peace in the middle east.

At the core of that failure is a broken promise—a promise that was made as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled by force from their homes 76 years ago. My wife’s relatives are just one of the families who had to leave their homes in the West Bank and flee to Gaza, clutching the keys to their home in their hand in the forlorn hope that, one day, they would be allowed to return.

For decades, the promise that the international community has made has been of a two-state solution. Instead of progress towards that goal, however, we have seen the systematic occupation of Palestinian land, the expansion of illegal settlements and, with it, the erasure of generations of Palestinian families. There will simply be no peace in the region until the promises that were made by the international community are kept.

Surely the most basic step towards keeping that promise has to be the formal and immediate recognition of the Palestinian state. We cannot claim to support peace but deny statehood to the Palestinian people. It is the very height of hypocrisy and duplicity for someone to say that they believe in a two-state solution but for them to only recognise one state. There are some who try to obfuscate by invoking some mythical future process that currently does not exist, saying that they will recognise Palestine only when the time is right. Let me be absolutely clear: the time to officially recognise the Palestinian state is right now. It is in no one’s gift to veto the right of the Palestinian people. It is only through the immediate recognition of Palestine that we can truly make progress towards a sovereign Palestine and Israel coexisting safely and securely alongside each other.

I was pleased to see the First Minister make that point in a recent letter to both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. In just over a week’s time, Keir Starmer is likely to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. My appeal to him and to the Government that he will lead is not to equivocate, and not to deny the people of Palestine their inalienable right to statehood for a second longer. Instead, they should ensure that the UK joins with our allies and neighbours, Ireland, Norway and Spain, in immediately recognising the state of Palestine. Anything less will be a betrayal of the people of Palestine, who have been let down for far too long.

For me, this has never been a question of being either pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli; it has been a question of being pro-humanity. I am left asking the question: where is our humanity? With more than 37,000 Gazans, including 14,000 children, killed—not passing away, not dying, but killed—where is our humanity? With more than 86,000 injured, where is our humanity?

The car in which six-year-old Hind Rajab was travelling when she was killed is alleged to have been hit by 335 bullets—335 bullets raining down on a car full of innocent men, women and children. Where is our humanity?

If humanity is our driving force, surely we all agree that the UK Government must end the sale of arms to Israel, and do so immediately. International Criminal Court prosecutors are seeking arrest warrants for Hamas and senior members of the Israeli Government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The International Court of Justice is considering whether Israel has committed the gravest of crimes—genocide. Sending arms to Israel is, therefore, not only morally unjustifiable; it is complicity. We should have nothing to do with war crimes, which are undoubtedly being committed.

Accountability is the very bedrock of the global rules-based order. If arrest warrants are issued, the UK Government must make it clear that, should anyone against whom a warrant is issued—including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—land on British soil, they will be arrested, so that they can be held to account for the crimes that they have committed. We should be in no doubt that, as the United Nations has recently stated, war crimes are being committed, and it is right that those who are guilty, be they state or non-state actors, are held to account.

I conclude by asking myself: how much more suffering must people endure for the violence to cease? As I referred to already, more than 14,000 children in Gaza have been killed. According to Save the Children,

“Up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing ... many trapped beneath rubble, detained, buried in unmarked graves, or lost from their families”.

Hospitals are being obliterated, schools destroyed and UN buildings bombed—and all of that is being live streamed into our living rooms, while political leaders fail abysmally to put an end to the violence.

We must continue to raise our voice and demand a ceasefire; demand the release of all hostages; demand an end to arms sales to Israel; demand an end to the occupation; and demand the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine. Future generations will ask us how on earth we allowed such a massacre to take place. At the very least, let us be able to say that we were on the right side of history.

18:33  

In the only possibly lighter moment in the debate, Presiding Officer, I apologise for my slightly unconventionally accoutred appearance. I now know how Neil Gray felt when his trousers disintegrated on him; I thought that my choice was the lesser of two evils in attending the chamber this afternoon.

I also apologise as, given the late start to the debate, I may not be able to stay until its conclusion.

Turning to the substance, I begin with the contribution from Humza Yousaf. I congratulate him on bringing the debate to the chamber. It has been some months since we last discussed the issue and, although I cannot support some of the absolute propositions in the motion that he has presented to Parliament, I can associate myself very largely with the analysis that he gave in the opening third of his speech regarding the complete failure of the international community to honour the obligations that were made long ago, and certainly at the time of the creation of the state of Israel, to a two-state solution.

What has proved to be too difficult for the minds of many in the international community has led to thousands—indeed, tens of thousands—of unnecessary deaths, and the continuation of a hugely intractable, morally indefensible and appalling international position. I think that everybody with a moral conscience, particularly now, witnessing the excess of deaths that are taking place, would find very little to disagree with in that analysis.

In my lifetime, there have been major conflicts that I thought would always be irresolvable. There were the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the Berlin wall and the conflagration in the Soviet Union—and yet, suddenly, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both of those were resolved. In Northern Ireland, the Irish Republican Army agreed to decommission weapons and set aside its campaign of violence. The Berlin wall came down when the Soviet Union, under Mikhail Gorbachev, concluded that the international arms race could not be won.

For a moment, under the presidency of Bill Clinton, there was even the prospect that there might be progress that would lead to a more permanent settlement of the issues in the middle east. Ultimately, however, because factions there could not agree, that process fell apart, and literally nothing—I think—has been done to resolve those issues in the years since.

I am unyielding in my belief in, and support for, the state of Israel. I cannot support the proposed arms ban, because I fear that that would embolden Iran, and I am not necessarily sure what the nature of any conflict might escalate to become, were that to happen.

Nevertheless, I understand why people are concerned. I am unyielding in my support for the state of Israel, and, as I should have said, I am enormously pleased that, through the efforts of Humza Yousaf and so many others, the Jewish community in Scotland has not suffered, as many thought that it might, any opprobrium as a result of what is happening in the middle east.

However, the third leg of the stool is the Netanyahu Government, and I have concerns—as have many in my local Jewish community—about the way in which the Netanyahu Government, from which Benny Gantz has now withdrawn, has prosecuted the conflict. I share the concerns of those who think that there are interests closer to Netanyahu’s future that have allowed him to perpetuate the war in the way that he has, which is unacceptable.

We are at a point, therefore, nine months on, when we cannot simply all stand by and say, “This can go on for as long as it likes.” We need to see the hostages being released, but we also have to accept that there has to be progress towards a two-state solution.

I have noted the comments by Keir Starmer, which are not so very different from those of the UK Government. I think that he has moved to say that it would be possible to recognise a Palestinian state when a process is under way, rather than, as was previously the case, when a process has concluded. That is a pragmatic move—although not one to where Mr Yousaf would like it to be. However, it would require there to be a peace process.

I also approve of all the work that Mahmoud Abbas has done in relation to trying to put in place personalities that will be able to develop that process. For the moment, however, for as long as Hamas is in place, the conflict appears to be intractable. Meanwhile, we see—as Humza Yousaf said—tens of thousands of young people being murdered during the conflict, and that, too, is unacceptable.

I think that there is—in spirit, at least—a will among members across the Parliament, irrespective of the side of the debate that we come from, to accept that what is now going on is unacceptable and that progress must be made, and that that progress must end with the recognition of a Palestinian state in a secure two-state environment within the middle east.

18:38  

I thank Humza Yousaf for his devotion to the Palestinians, and for choosing this subject for his first members’ business debate as a former First Minister; it means a lot. I also recognise the work that he has done with the Jewish community—as Jackson Carlaw highlighted—in these very difficult times.

I believe that, in international terms, the question of Palestine is the moral question of our time, and that where you stand on the injustice of the longest occupation in the world—76 years, in fact—matters. Millions of Israelis believe that too, as do many Jewish people around the world. I say that, if you have a platform to speak out, you must speak out, for the sake of all those—as Humza Yousaf said—who live in the middle east region, because it is the only way that we will get peace.

The Balfour declaration said, among other things, that the creation of the state of Israel should not undermine the rights of the Palestinian population. More than a hundred years on, however, we are no further forward on that.

As the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, said this week at the Unison conference, the right of Palestine to be an “independent sovereign state” is an inalienable and “long-overdue right” that is not in the gift of the neighbour, who is the occupier.

As Anas Sarwar has said many times, Palestine has a right to exist as a secure state in exactly the same way as Israel should have security and peace. That is the right approach. I agree with Humza Yousaf that the time to recognise Palestine is now. It is time to correct the historical injustices.

Although the focus is, rightly, on the massacre and decimation in Gaza right now, the failure to hold Israel to account for the violation of international law over 76 years and the pretence that there were serious attempts to reach a political solution must be understood. In talks during that time, the Palestinian representatives accepted having 22 per cent of former Palestine as the basis of the state. I question whether Israel will, on its own, without any pressure, come to the conclusion that there must be a Palestinian state. That is why I believe that the UK must suspend sending arms to Israel until such time as Israel complies with international law. Unless there is pressure of that type, I do not see how that will come about.

This week, Armenia joined 146 countries that recognise Palestine as an occupied state. That is an important addition to those nations that already recognise Palestine, because there is an Armenian quarter in Jerusalem, where there is extreme settler violence, and it is a risk for the Armenians to take that step. However, the addition of Armenia to those 146 countries is welcome.

As Humza Yousaf has said, the level of violence in the occupied territories is completely unprecedented. Although the world is, rightly, focused on what is happening in Gaza, we must draw attention to what is happening in the West Bank. During his speech at the United Nations in September 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu proudly presented a map showing all historical Palestine as Israel. However, Palestine exists and will not be ignored.

I make a plea for us not to make the mistake of characterising Benjamin Netanyahu as the problem. Previous Israeli Prime Ministers have failed to reach agreement with the Palestinians. The Palestinians have been repeatedly dehumanised, their rights have been taken away, they have been detained and their houses have been demolished. Why should they live a minute longer under Israeli rule?

Save the Children said that 20,000 children are

“lost, disappeared, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves”.

They have nowhere to run. Now, one in four children is starving to death, and 90 per cent are food insecure when they should be receiving aid. The Rafah crossing has now been burned, and their connection with the outside world is no longer there.

We must not relent from calling for an immediate ceasefire. We must continue to call for the return of the hostages who are still being held.

One day, Palestine will be free, and I think that this Parliament can say that, when the time was right, we stood up for Palestinians and for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and for peace for everyone who lives in the region.

As might be expected, there is a lot of interest in this debate, and it would be helpful if members could stick to their speaking time allocation, although we will almost certainly have to extend the debate in any event.

18:43  

I thank my colleague Humza Yousaf for securing this incredibly important debate. Throughout his time as an MSP, Humza Yousaf has shown unwavering support for the Palestinian people and, as First Minister, he showed immense leadership on the matter, and I commend him for that. At a time when other party leaders were running a mile from the issue, at best, or tolerating genocide and war crimes, at worst, he was on the right side of history, and he will be remembered for that.

For decades, the Palestinian people have endured prolonged conflict and illegal occupation, which have caused immense suffering and an ever-rising death toll. The lack of recognition of Palestinian statehood, despite what some might argue, has resulted in continued violence and impedes the chance of lasting peace.

Recognition of the state of Palestine acknowledges that Palestinians have the right to self-determination and the right to build a future free from occupation and oppression. The prospect of lasting peace has never been more in peril, so we must act urgently. We must secure recognition of the state of Palestine, an immediate ceasefire, an end to arms sales to Israel and the immediate release of all hostages. Immediate recognition by the UK Government would send a powerful message that we support peace and want an end to the massacre of Palestinian people.

Some people attempt to argue that recognition of the state of Palestine could undermine the peace process but, clearly, the status quo has not worked; it has only perpetuated the cycle of violence, and who are we to deny freedom to the Palestinians and condemn them to continued illegal occupation? If we believe that a two-state solution is viable, in order to get it, we must recognise the state of Palestine and allow it to co-exist with Israel.

It is our duty as MSPs to speak up against injustice and oppression and to call for action. I thank the Labour MSPs who have signed today’s motion, especially as, unfortunately, it contradicts Labour’s Westminster policy, which will prevail in government.

Lip service from the Tories and Labour does not cut it, and their silence has contributed to the deaths of many innocent Palestinians, including thousands of children and women. We in the SNP are clear on our stance on that. The next UK Government must recognise the state of Palestine as a matter of urgency. If it refuses to do so, the SNP will force a vote on the matter in Westminster. Instead of the need for that, we are calling on the next UK Government to follow in the footsteps of our neighbours in Ireland, Spain and Norway. The approach of our neighbouring countries is putting pressure on the Israeli Government, but we know that, unless the UK and the US announce their support for Palestinian statehood, little will change.

Recognition of the state of Palestine is in the interests of everyone, and it is necessary for lasting peace. The Palestinian and Israeli people deserve to live long, happy and peaceful lives free of continuous fear and violence. That should not be an extreme request.

The Irish Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, put it quite simply. He said:

“What the people of Palestine ask of us is not outrageous or extravagant. If anything, it is modest. The wish to be recognised as a State like any other, to control their own affairs and to speak for themselves on the international stage.”

It is that simple. Therefore, let us be on the right side of history today. Every one of us here today has a responsibility to urge the next UK Government to recognise the state of Palestine in order to bring about lasting peace and an end to the massacre.

18:47  

Like my colleagues, I thank Humza Yousaf for the moral courage and leadership that he showed in his time as First Minister and has shown throughout his time as a member of this Parliament in defending the inalienable rights of Palestinians, which many other world leaders would not defend.

In preparing for this debate, I looked back at the previous speeches that I have given in the chamber on the occupation of Palestine, and one in particular stands out. In 2018, we debated the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Nakba—the catastrophe—which was the campaign of ethnic cleansing that established the state of Israel and shattered Palestinian society. We marked that anniversary at the same time as Palestinians in Gaza marched peacefully to the fence that Israel has used to imprison them since its siege and blockade began. They marched peacefully for their freedom, and they were met by Israeli soldiers who slaughtered them. The peaceful struggle for freedom was met with colonial violence.

That year was Scotland’s year of young people, and, as we were marking that, 46 Palestinian children were murdered by Israeli soldiers during those protests. They were murdered alongside paramedics wearing their uniforms. They were murdered alongside people who were shot dead in their wheelchairs. They were murdered alongside a journalist who was killed by Israeli soldiers and whom the Israeli state then claimed was a senior Hamas operative even though he had been held in prison by Hamas and was an opponent of Hamas who had passed American vetting to receive their support, because, of course, there is no lie that Israel is unwilling to stoop to telling in its constant campaign to destroy the Palestinian people.

As Humza Yousaf mentioned, Save the Children has just published a report on the toll that the past eight or nine months have taken on the children of Gaza. It says that 20,000 children are

“lost, disappeared, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves”.

That figure comes years after the debates that we have had previously about the scale of suffering that those children have had to experience. I want to read from the remarks that I made in 2018 on the experience of those children. I said:

“Half of Gaza’s population is under the age of 18. More than a decade into the siege, the UN estimates that more than 300,000 of them need psychological support, because they are so traumatised by the atrocities that have been inflicted on them.”—[Official Report, 15 May 2018; c 85.]

That psychological support is now needed by every one of the 1 million children in Gaza.

In the 2014 Israeli assault, more than 500 children were killed. In the 10 years since then, world leaders have attended events to commemorate those who have been lost in previous genocides and slaughter, and they have said the same thing: “Never again.” Ten years on from those 500 children being killed, we are now looking at at least 15,000 children who have been killed.

Among those 500 children back in 2014, there were four boys from one family who, as I have mentioned previously, were murdered by Israel while they were playing football on the beach. They were killed by the Israeli Navy. They were clearly children and were clearly no threat, but they were hit not by a single stray shell but by a deliberate attack. As they fled across the beach, the Israeli ship adjusted its aim and fired a second shell to make sure that it killed all of them. Those children’s names were Ismaeel Mohamed Bakir, who was nine years old; Zakariya Aahed Bakir, who was 10; Aahed Etaf Bakir, who was 10; and Mohamed Ramez Bakir, who was 11. Their deaths were recorded by the world’s media, because they were just 200m away in a hotel. Many journalists risked their lives to try to save those children and the two others who were wounded with them. They cannot do that now, of course, because Israel has prevented international journalists from even entering Gaza. We rely on the incredible bravery of Palestinian journalists to know what is actually happening there. Not only those Palestinian journalists but their families are being targeted by the state of Israel.

Israel is the only country in the world to summarily prosecute children through a military court system—not Israeli children, of course; just Palestinian children. Those who object to Israel being labelled as an apartheid state must explain why Palestinian children and Israeli children are held to such different standards.

I recognise that we do not have much time in this debate, so I will finish with a plea to the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government could still take further action to support the Palestinian people. It could ban the companies that are listed by the UN as being complicit in the occupation from receiving grants and contracts. Palestinians have the right to self-determination. Recent events have shown the double standards that are applied to international law and human rights, but we can still stand up for our Palestinian friends. We can defend their right to a free, independent and sovereign Palestinian state.

18:52  

I have stood here twice before to condemn the terrorist attack on 7 October and the inhumane horrors that have taken place since and which continue to unfold. Standing here for a third time is heartbreaking.

To date, the conflict has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 Palestinians. The UN’s latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report shows that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity involving

“an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion”.

The conflict is out of control and is engulfing the West Bank, as shown by the awful images of a wounded Palestinian strapped to the bonnet of an Israeli military jeep speeding past ambulances rushing to the latest scene. The war threatens the entire region, as the bellicose Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, casually states that Israeli forces will soon move on to the Lebanon border.

This has all got to stop. The collective punishment of Palestinians must end. By denying Palestinian statehood internationally, we are all complicit in that collective punishment. I have Israeli friends who support ending the outrageous treatment of their neighbours, and they deserve our support.

I commend my colleague Humza Yousaf for lodging the motion before us. It states:

“Palestinian statehood is an inalienable right of the people of Palestine, not a privilege that can be vetoed by others”.

We must halt the endless cycle of violence and bloodshed, start a viable path for peace between Israel and Palestine, and immediately recognise a Palestinian state. That is essential. We need an end to the conflict, an end to the flagrant flouting of international law and an end to the complicity of an enabling UK state. The people whom we represent want to see that. However, as people in the UK prepare to vote, the silence around the UK’s position on Palestine is shameful.

When reading a recent article on Palestine by The Guardian columnist Owen Jones, I was struck by the opening line. It was a simple question:

“Is this a serious country or not?”

The simple answer is that it is not.

The outgoing Prime Minister has given his full backing to Israel’s genocidal response to the 7 October attacks. He is happy to flout the rulings of the globally recognised International Court of Justice by continuing to provide arms and enable Israel to conduct its on-going Rafah offensive, in flagrant breach of the ICJ ruling. Since the ruling, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and others. Meanwhile, the UK states that the ICC has no jurisdiction, in wilful ignorance of the reality that, as a signatory to the Rome statute, the ICC does, in fact, have the power to investigate and issue rulings.

Recognising a Palestinian state would remove any of that wilful ignorance. That is why it is so important to do so, and to do so now. Recognising a Palestinian state would also furnish Palestine with the same rights and obligations of any state, so it would provide Palestine with equality in negotiations with Israel to create a future as an equal partner, demanding of and obligated to peace—a serious peace, a lasting peace and a just peace.

If we are to be a serious country, we must recognise that, we must respect international law and we must immediately join the 143 UN states that have voted to recognise the state of Palestine.

18:56  

I am pleased to speak on behalf of Scottish Liberal Democrats in today’s incredibly important debate. I thank Humza Yousaf for bringing the debate to the chamber and for how, as First Minister, he chose to use that office and his voice to speak up for peaceful solutions.

We have all looked on in horror at the scenes of devastation that have played out in Israel and Gaza. The terrorist attacks on 7 October and the subsequent conflict in Gaza have seen thousands of innocent people killed, and it has been horrifying. Right now, there is a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza—the health system has collapsed and international institutions are warning of the risk of famine. There is also the tragic on-going hostage crisis, with more than 100 Israelis still being held hostage by Hamas following the atrocities of 7 October.

We are very concerned about the way in which the conflict that has turned the entire region into a tinderbox is on the brink of serious escalation. For months, Liberal Democrats have been calling for an immediate bilateral ceasefire, because we urgently need to stop the humanitarian devastation in Gaza, get the hostages out and make the space for a political process that leads to a two-state solution and lasting peace. Not only that, but an immediate bilateral ceasefire will help to deliver the de-escalation that the region desperately needs.

At this dark moment, the UK Government should be doing all that it can to stop the violence, secure an immediate bilateral ceasefire and bring about a two-state solution. One of the strongest cards that the United Kingdom holds is the ability to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, and it is time for us to do so. Liberal Democrats have long called for the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine; it has been our policy since 2017. Layla Moran, the first British Palestinian MP, has on multiple occasions introduced a private member’s bill in the UK Parliament that would recognise Palestine as a state.

The UK has both historical obligations in the region and modern responsibilities under international law. There are those who say that recognising the state of Palestine would be meaningless and that it would not have any practical consequence, but it is important that we do not underestimate the extent to which the UK’s voice is listened to in the region. If we and our allies recognise Palestine, we will be able to fully join international institutions such as the UN and the World Bank. That step would provide hope for millions of Palestinians that peace and a Palestinian state are possible.

Liberal Democrats have also urged the UK Government to cease the export of British arms to Israel, given the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Liberal Democrats have long advocated a two-state solution. A lasting peace is the only way to deliver the security and dignity that Israelis and Palestinians deserve. For the security of both peoples, Hamas cannot be allowed to continue to be in charge of Gaza, international law must be upheld and the rulings of international courts must be respected.

18:59  

I thank Humza Yousaf for bringing this important motion to Parliament.

We have a direct historic responsibility for the injustice perpetrated on Palestine and on the Palestinians. Therefore, we have a direct and distinctive responsibility for securing justice for Palestine and the Palestinians, for without justice there will be no lasting peace. Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary, born only 25 miles from here in East Lothian, declared in 1917 that

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

That single sentence signalled that imperial Britain was prepared to give away a land that did not belong to it, though with the condition—and let me repeat it—

“that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities”.

Frantz Fanon, the political radical, wrote in “The Wretched of the Earth”:

“When we revolt it’s not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe”.

I say the people of Palestine are in revolt because they can no longer breathe. In 1947, they lost more than half of their land in the UN partition plan, and three quarters of a million Palestinians were displaced at the start of the Nakba. This was not a one-off event; it grinds on and on to this day as many of those who have been dispossessed and displaced by force and their descendants are now forcibly dispossessed and forcibly displaced again inside Gaza.

Since 2008 there have been five—five—major conflicts and wars in Gaza. Settler colonisation in the West Bank has grown at the fastest rate ever; there are now half a million settlers living there. This cannot carry on.

Now the Palestinians are facing dispossession again, are being forced into exile again, are being forced to become refugees again. Yet, like so many already living in the refugee camps of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, and those scattered across the world, many will hold keys—literally hold the physical keys of their homes—and all of them will hold the dream of one day returning.

So, of course, we condemn the attacks of October the 7th, but history did not begin on October the 7th 2023. So we need our Government to use its influence as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, because of that historic, that distinctive, that direct responsibility to ensure that aid is escalated and arming is not just de-escalated but stopped altogether—not one more drone, not one more gun, not one more bullet, not one more licence.

But we need to go further. The plight of the Palestinians is not simply a humanitarian emergency. The question of Palestine can only be answered politically. So let us understand in full this injustice. Let us accept in full the part which our country played in that. Let us face up in full to the future that this is not just a question of power in a post-colonial age; this is not just a question of human and civil rights—this is a question of our moral code, our moral responsibility, our moral duty. So let us join with those on the right side of history today: let us recognise Palestine now.

Thank you. Before calling the next speaker I am conscious that a number of members still wish to participate in the debate. I am therefore minded to accept a motion under rule 8.14.3 of standing orders to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes. I invite Humza Yousaf to move such a motion.

Motion moved,

That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended by 30 minutes.—[Humza Yousaf]

Motion agreed to.

I now call James Dornan, to be followed by Carol Mochan. You have up to four minutes, Mr Dornan.

19:04  

We could spend our allotted time listing the countless cases of the deliberate slaughter of men, women and children during and since the events of 7 October and could easily pretend that all the acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing that have occurred since then are a result of that day.

However, to do that would be to live in a world that denies facts and denies the history of both that region and of the United Kingdom. Without the betrayal of the indigenous population of Palestine, primarily by the British, we would not be here, so recognising the state of Palestine is the very least that the UK owes its people.

I well remember hearing about the horrors of 7 October last year and imagining the fear that those poor young people who were out enjoying themselves at a music festival must have felt when terror arrived. I suspect that I am not alone in having seen my sympathies lie with the people of Israel on that and the following days.

However, I would also bet that I was not alone in fearing what would happen next. We are told that Mossad is the greatest intelligence agency in the world and that the Israel Defense Forces is the most moral army yet, strangely, those two organisations were completely unable to find the culprits who carried out the 7 October terrorist acts. Instead, Netanyahu, a man who hangs on to power solely to stay out of prison, decided that it was time to clear out the people of Gaza once and for all. He set the dogs on the innocents in a pretendy attempt to root out the guilty, and he okayed the slaughter of children, women and the elderly because he saw them as being less important than his own future. Do you know what is worse than that? He got international backing to do so. While he was bombing safe havens, hospitals and refugee camps, the UK and the USA happily continued supporting him, including by selling him weapons, all for domestic political purposes.

It is fitting that today’s debate has been brought to the chamber by my friend and colleague Humza Yousaf. When the events of 7 October happened, he was the first to show support to the Jewish community of Scotland and was joined in that by all the other political leaders. When the genocide began, Humza stood up for the people of Gaza but, that time, he was alone. While other leaders awaited instructions from elsewhere, Humza stood up and stood strong. We should never forget the humanity that he showed and the courage that it took to make himself visible like that. Of course, he did all that while he had family under the threat of the ethnic cleansing that was taking place. That is the mark of a good man.

The conflict in Palestine has been a long one, although last year’s events saw it escalate to new levels of violence. I am sure that those whose memories go back that bit further than the latest news cycle will know that Palestine has been slowly and methodically annexed by illegal settlers, backed by the Israeli army, for decades. According to the UN, between 2008 and 2021, 23 Palestinians were killed for every Israeli, of which 22 per cent were children and 10 per cent were women.

No killing is a good thing, but those figures are a sharp reminder of the military imbalance in the area. The Palestinians now face the might of a US and UK backed Israeli army that seems to be intent on committing war crime after war crime, and ultimately genocide, in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the region. It is to the eternal shame of the UK Government that it continues backing the Netanyahu regime that has carried out such atrocities in Palestine and is still doing so daily. Given Keir Starmer’s comments, I do not hold out much hope of an incoming Labour Government being any different.

The SNP has a long and honourable tradition of believing in the right of all nations to self-determination and the right to govern themselves in their own interests. We believe that Palestine is a nation and that the United Kingdom should immediately recognise it as a state. That is undoubtedly what we would do if Scotland were independent and it is what our neighbours in Ireland, Spain and Norway have done.

The situation in Gaza has been a humanitarian disaster, with food convoys being shot at and aid workers murdered by Israeli forces. The first step on the way out of that barbarity is to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state in its own right. A two-state solution must be brokered and either the UK is part of the solution, along with our friends and neighbours in Europe and beyond, or it will once again, as we have seen so often in its dark imperial history, be a large part of the problem. We know that 146 UN countries recognise Palestine. Will the UK make it 147?

19:09  

I thank Humza Yousaf for bringing this important debate to the chamber. At a time when eyes have begun to turn away from the atrocities and horrors that are being inflicted on the people of Palestine, it is important that we in Parliament continue to raise their voices.

I, along with many members from across the chamber, believe that Palestine is the moral question of our time and that this is not just a matter of standing up for a ceasefire in the here and now. As others have said in this and previous debates in the chamber, more than 75 years after Palestinians were promised a state of their own and after 56 years of illegal occupation, more than 100 countries now recognise Palestine. It is not out of step for them to do so.

Where one stands on the question matters. It matters because we must care about the future for Israel and Palestine. The hopes and the futures of all Israelis and Palestinians depend on what we do.

As a citizen of one of the most powerful countries in the world, I feel desperately ashamed that UK-funded weapons have been used to perpetuate this terrible episode in human history. No amount of gross domestic product is worth being involved in that. We need security and peace for the region. Internationally, we need to place pressure on the Netanyahu Government, which all in the chamber recognise.

As others have done, I have wept as entire families have been killed in Gaza. Children have woken up to find the refugee camps that they are living in with barely enough food or water completely ablaze after bombs were dropped on tents. Aid workers and journalists have been murdered in cold blood for simply trying to help people or to get to the truth. All that is going on as we speak, and it will still be happening tomorrow. How can we do anything other than speak up? We have a moral responsibility to do so.

As others have said, we need to recognise the root causes and address them. That requires us to recognise a Palestinian state and a two-state solution. The reality of the situation as it stands is that innocent people, including thousands of women, children and unborn children are being punished for a crime that they did not commit.

I thank Mr Yousaf for the stance that he took when he was First Minister, which was most welcome. He welcomed the support from Scottish Labour and across the chamber, and I believe that that reflected the overwhelming view in Scotland that we must strive for peace and reconciliation. Scotland must continue to use its voice whenever it can to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinians. We cannot let it be swept under the carpet, because it is that kind of attitude that has led to the constant instability in the region and the rise of leaders who are determined to use violence to get what they want.

I end by saying this to Governments around the world: selling weapons to a nation that is indiscriminately bombing civilian population centres is not a benign act. We have seen unimaginable scenes from Gaza of destruction and death. Across the world, we must speak out: stop the killing, bring the hostages home and recognise the state of Palestine so that we can begin the process of peace.

I call Maggie Chapman as the final speaker in the open debate for up to four minutes.

19:13  

I am grateful to Humza Yousaf for lodging his motion and for securing the debate in the chamber. I echo other members’ comments that recognise his leadership on the issue.

I know that many people around Scotland will be watching us to see what we in Parliament say and do about the awful genocide that is wreaking death and destruction across Gaza. I believe that those of us who have consistently been calling for a ceasefire for more than eight months, and for the world to recognise the state of Palestine for much longer than that, will, in time, be shown to have been on the right side of history.

We desperately need peace in the lands of Palestine and Israel—and it must be a just peace. The on-going conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has roots that go back more than a century. A peaceful resolution, although not simple, is a moral imperative. We come to the debate after the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, the murder of children and healthcare workers and the destruction of hospitals, universities, libraries and schools. We come to the debate at a time when Israeli occupation forces have used an injured Palestinian as a human shield, strapped to the front of a military vehicle. We come to the debate when Israel is not just bombarding Gaza but restricting services and support across the occupied territories.

Israel has stopped transferring tax that is collected from Palestinians to the Palestinian National Authority, so public sector workers have not been paid for months. Israel was given control over Palestinian tax and customs in the Oslo accords in the 1990s. The Oslo process saw the then Palestinian Liberation Organisation recognise the state of Israel. Indeed, the PLO did what was asked of it in those accords, but it was consistently undermined by the forces of occupation and apartheid, as the Palestinian Authority has been. Education is an inalienable human right, but the education of young Palestinians is being restricted because the Palestinian Authority has not received the money that it needs to pay teachers’ wages, if, indeed, they still have schools to teach in. The same restrictions apply to healthcare, which is another inalienable human right.

I will say a bit about the attacks on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East—UNRWA. When the International Court of Justice instructed Israel to ensure that sufficient aid was provided in Gaza, the immediate response was not to make that aid available but to claim that UNRWA was implicated in the 7 October attacks. No evidence of that has ever been produced. More UN workers have been killed in this war than in any other. Hundreds of aid installations have been destroyed and damaged, which has compromised UNRWA’s ability to do its life-saving work.

International humanitarian law—particularly the Geneva convention—emphasises the protection and assistance of civilians. Defunding and otherwise compromising UNRWA’s attempts undermines those protections. We must apply all the international pressure that we can on Israel to stop it from acting in bad faith, and so that the UK and the US reinstate support for UNRWA, stop sending arms to Israel and recognise the state of Palestine. A just peace cannot be achieved by the obliteration of a people and the destruction of their world.

I have a different position to others on the issue of a two-state solution, one that is shared by many workers for peace in Israel and Palestine. The occupation of east Jerusalem makes such a proposal unworkable, I believe, as do the illegal settlements in the West Bank. I urge colleagues to read Jeff Halper’s writing on that. However, that difference does not diminish my support for the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine, for an end to supplying arms to Israel and for a ceasefire. The Palestinian people should be given the power and the means to determine their own future.

To conclude, I will share the words of Shahed Bdeir, a 13-year-old Palestinian child whose poem, “Mother Palestine”, has been on display in the Scottish Poetry Library as part of the Hands Up Project’s “Moon Tell Me Truth” exhibition:

“Sadness in her eyes
as everyone dies
She remembers the old days
How beautiful she was
But no one can realize
that she wants to survive
Everyone, everywhere, must realize
that Palestine deserves life.”

19:17  

I thank Humza Yousaf for securing this important debate. I pay tribute to him for his principled stance on the issue as minister, cabinet secretary, First Minister and, today, as a member of the Scottish Parliament. He has been a voice for victims of this terrible conflict from the very beginning, as well as an advocate of tolerance at home and of speaking out against all forms of discrimination, including Islamophobia and antisemitism. I also pay tribute to all members who have spoken so powerfully in the debate.

The Scottish Government has welcomed Ireland, Norway, Spain and Slovenia’s recognition of the state of Palestine; they have joined with 141 other states in doing so. Today, we were updated that the Republic of Armenia has done likewise. The First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition on 28 May to call on the United Kingdom to do the same. I reiterate that call for the UK to review its position following the recent, welcome decision by our European neighbours. Recognition would offer hope to Palestinians that a just, durable political solution is possible, and it would allow Israel and Palestine to move towards long-term peace and stability, which is in the interest of all parties.

Although it may sometimes seem like a distant prospect, the Scottish Government continues to support the position of the UK and the European Union that there should be a two-state solution that respects the human rights of everyone in the region to ensure that a secure Israel can live peacefully alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. Only through such an outc-ome can the cycle of violence that is killing and injuring so many innocent civilians be ended.

The Scottish Government has been consistent in condemning unequivocally the abhorrent terrorist actions of Hamas and in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, by all sides, in Israel and in Gaza. A ceasefire is the only way that we can halt the catastrophic human suffering in Gaza and for all the hostages to be released.

I repeat the Scottish Government’s demand for Hamas to release immediately and unconditionally all hostages and to cease all missile attacks against Israel. Hamas can have no future in Gaza. The cycle of violence must end, the rockets and bombings must stop, humanitarian and medical facilities must be protected, and civilians must be given unrestricted access to the basic necessities of life, wherever they are.

I take the opportunity to commend the generosity of aid organisations and community groups across Scotland, including in Humza Yousaf’s constituency of Glasgow Pollok, for their generosity in sending aid to ease the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. That generosity is consistent with the outpouring of support that ordinary Scots have provided for innocent victims of conflict elsewhere, most recently in Ukraine. The Scottish Government has also responded to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by committing £750,000 of Scotland’s international aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s flash appeal.

Having been repeatedly displaced, an estimated 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering in tent camps and cramped apartments, desperate for food, desperate for water and desperate for medical supplies. The health system, along with much of the infrastructure in Gaza, has been decimated. Life-saving aid has been systematically blocked from entering the territory, in contravention of international law. The International Court of Justice has been crystal clear that Israel must ensure unimpeded access to Gaza for humanitarian aid.

I urge all parties to step up their efforts to agree a ceasefire urgently, so that the hostages can at last be reunited with their families, the bombing can stop and the unimaginable suffering that this conflict has caused can finally end.

The Scottish Government does not believe that there is a case to send more weapons to Israel. The UN Security Council has called for a ceasefire in Gaza, and ministers have made it clear that, by continuing to arm Israel, the UK is in danger of being complicit in killing innocent civilians. The former First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister calling for a ban on arms exports to Israel—a call that has not yet been heeded. We will continue to press the UK Government on that issue.

Today, in this Parliament, we have overwhelmingly agreed that Palestine must be recognised as an independent state. Doing nothing is not an option. The UK should join the international community and do the right thing—recognise Palestine as an independent state and secure a ceasefire and a two-state solution, so that Palestine and Israel can live in peace, security, prosperity and independence.

Meeting closed at 19:22.