How Labour helped win a Gaza ceasefire
The Labour government should be proud of the work it has done to help, in small but significant ways, create the ground for an Israeli and Palestinian ceasefire.
David Lammy and Keir Starmer took over a foreign policy that gave Israel everything it needed, without serious conditions around human rights and no engagement with international law. Within six months, Britain under Labour has ramped up the pressure for peace and human rights. Labour resumed vital aid funding via the UNRWA; Lammy changed the UK’s position on the ICC so that Britain would cooperate with attempts to keep Israel within the bounds of international law; and most importantly, he suspended 30 arms licences in a decisive shift away from Cameron’s carte blanche approach.
David Lammy and Keir Starmer took over a foreign policy that gave Israel everything it needed, without serious conditions around human rights and no engagement with international law. Within six months, Britain under Labour has ramped up the pressure for peace and human rights. Labour resumed vital aid funding via the UNRWA; Lammy changed the UK’s position on the ICC so that Britain would cooperate with attempts to keep Israel within the bounds of international law; and most importantly, he suspended 30 arms licences in a decisive shift away from Cameron’s carte blanche approach.
Lammy’s approach put further pressure on the Israel, and on the US to match the UK’s withdrawal of certain arms contracts, which in turn pushed Netanyahu to turn more quickly toward peace. He did so without alienating Britain from relations with Israel, so that Britain could play the role of a fair third party.
Equally, Lammy and Starmer both understood that there could be no peace without a roadmap to the release of the hostages, and rightly refused calls for unilateral ceasefires that made no provision for their freedom. The hostages – among them, British citizen, Emily Damari – deserve their freedom after 400 days of agony for themselves and their families.
Labour’s position has been to ignore radical extremists and preachers of hate on either side who seek deny two free peoples the right to statehood they both deserve, and instead become a part of peace. That’s why David Lammy has been involved in the peace process taking place in Doha, so that Britain could begin to play the role of mediator.
It is not easy to try and walk a middle path. But, especially in the world of diplomacy, the middle path is the only one that can bring two sides together. Britain under Labour is, gradually, turning away from being a passive partisan and starting to be an active peacemaker.
Equally, Lammy and Starmer both understood that there could be no peace without a roadmap to the release of the hostages, and rightly refused calls for unilateral ceasefires that made no provision for their freedom. The hostages – among them, British citizen, Emily Damari – deserve their freedom after 400 days of agony for themselves and their families.
Labour’s position has been to ignore radical extremists and preachers of hate on either side who seek deny two free peoples the right to statehood they both deserve, and instead become a part of peace. That’s why David Lammy has been involved in the peace process taking place in Doha, so that Britain could begin to play the role of mediator.
It is not easy to try and walk a middle path. But, especially in the world of diplomacy, the middle path is the only one that can bring two sides together. Britain under Labour is, gradually, turning away from being a passive partisan and starting to be an active peacemaker.
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