Addressing the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine at a meeting last night at the Spring Conference of the Party in York, Lord Alderdice drew on his experience, not only of the Irish Peace Process but of work in many other areas of conflict including in the Middle East and called for a block on the supply of arms to both sides in the conflict and the release from prison of the leading Palestinian figure, Marwan Barghouthi, who has spent many years behind bars in Israel since the second Intifada including very extended periods in solitary confinement.
Lord Alderdice said:
“The government of Israel will fail to meet their declared objectives because there is no possible military solution to the conflict in Israel/Palestine. Long before the terrible events of last October 7th I was warning of an impending explosion of violence. However, while this was obvious to any serious observer, it is also clear that neither terrorist violence nor military action will benefit the people of Israel and Palestine. That is why I call on those who provide weapons for either side, including the governments of the UK and USA and the government of Iran, to stop providing military equipment and support to Israel and Hamas. Violence and killing is just making everything worse.
A full bilateral ceasefire is needed immediately, not just a humanitarian pause, but a cessation of violence and a serious international effort to end the killing for good.
However, if there is to be political progress there will have to be leaders on both sides who have the ability and commitment to achieve a settlement and neither Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu nor President Mahmoud Abbas are up to the task. I think that Israel will find a way to replace their Prime Minister before long, but it is clear that the one Palestinian who has the support of his people and the commitment and ability to achieve a peace agreement is Marwan Barghouthi. Despite his long-term imprisonment, much of it in solitary confinement, he has shown an unwavering commitment to a 2-state solution going back as far as his support for the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, and Israel should take the opportunity of the negotiations on hostage and prisoner releases to free Marwan Barghouthi and allow him to lead his people into the negotiations that can provide stability for the people of both Israel and Palestine.”
1 Comment
Thank you John for caring so much and for your practical call for action. I so respect and honour your commitment and ability to speak on these matters . Our communities in the UK are struggling, confused and polarised but all that pales into insignificance when we look across to Gaza. Israel and Palestine need and deserve more that that which is currently on offer.