24 April 2024

On 23 April 2024 Freya Summersgill, the Green Party candidate for Brentford West, spoke to the local grassroots organisation Hounslow Votes for Palestine about the Green Party’s position and her personal views on the current situation in Gaza.

Freya has both publicly and privately supported Lara, the outgoing Councillor in Brentford West who left the Labour Party over the party’s response to Gaza.

If Freya were a Green councillor or MP, she would be able to do more to represent the strength of feeling of the local community about the war in Gaza because she would not be muted by her party.

Below are Freya's answers for the five questions provided in advance shared with the attendees at the meeting, and some useful links to Green Party information.

Can you provide a summary of the Green Party's position on Palestine and what you think is going to happen after a Ceasefire.

In the six months since 7 October 2023 the Green Party of England and Wales has called for:

A full bilateral ceasefire
The release of all hostages
A suspension of all arms export licences to Israel until the violence stops
The cessation of all military collaboration with Israel, including use of British bases by Israeli forces, and intelligence sharing
Targeted Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against individuals and institutions supporting or facilitating Israel’s occupation of Palestine
An investigation by the Metropolitan Police and Director of Public Prosecutions of war crimes committed against UK citizens, or where UK citizens are potential perpetrators
The UK government to use its position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to vote for, rather than abstain on, ceasefire votes
Targeted sanctions against key individuals in the Israeli leadership, including travel bans and asset freezes on Israel’s government ministers
An end to occupation of the Palestinian territories
The UK government to return to international law being the benchmark for UK policy, and repair the UK’s international reputation as a defender of the international rules-based order.

See Green Party News website: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2024/04/08/greens-call-for-end-to-violence-in-gaza-six-months-since-october-7th-attack/

The Green Party Policy is available publicly on the website. https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/policy/international/

Palestine and Israel (IP600 onwards at the link) are one of three regional policies within the international policy, the others being the Arctic Ocean and Antarctica.

In summary this policy calls for

Mutual recognition of the rights of independent statehood and for recognised, agreed and secure borders for Palestinians and Israelis in Palestine. Exclusive possession by either side is not an achievable or just solution.
Human and Civil rights for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Implement UN resolutions194 (refugees right to return), UN242 and UN338 calling for ceasefire and permanent peace in the middle east following the 1967 and 1973 wars.
International assistance so that the new Palestinian state can develop self-reliance in land, water, food production, basic services and industries
For Israel to repeal the law of return, as it is racial discrimination; evacuate the illegal settlements, share water resources and abandon the claim to exclusive possession of Jerusalem.
Sanctions and halt to international finance and military support until Israel enters into dialogue that ensures the human rights of Palestinians as well as Israelis.

This policy was last updated in 2019 and therefore the wording requires an update. Uniquely for a Westminster party, members can directly affect Green Party Policy, so if there are changes you would like to see made, either you can tell us at the Hounslow Green Party or you can become a member and propose the changes yourself.

After a ceasefire, I hope that aid and support will flood into Palestine to support the people as they rebuild, again. I personally hope that the scale of the collective punishment of Gaza and the public outcry across the world this time will sway international opinions sufficiently to push the two sides back to negotiating a permanent solution.

But, I am no expert or diplomat. I have been following what the Green Party spokespeople have been tweeting/posting and I think it is more balanced and reasonable response to the civilian deaths than the Labour and Conservative inaction or silence. I think Carne Ross, our Global Solidarity Spokesperson (International Policy) is an interesting one to follow given his credentials - the former head of Arab/Israel desk at the Foreign Office, Head of Middle East Policy at the UK mission to the UN as well as his resignation due to the Iraq war 2004 where he was the whistleblower for the lack of WMD evidence – which he spoke about recently on Radio 4 news at 1 (on 8^th April), also in relation to government legal advice about Gaza.

How do you think a two state solution will happen considering the facts on the ground?

A lasting peace requires dialogue between the warring parties. Given the preferences of current leaders for violence on both sides, negotiating a lasting peace deal between them will be very difficult. That does not make it impossible though, we thought peace in Northern Ireland would never be achieved and it eventually was.

We have been here before, war and then a search for a permanent peaceful situation. The difference this time may be the growing strength of countries with Pro-Palestinian views and the scale of the protests in western countries.

I think it is important to see that the views of many civilians on both sides are not represented by their current leaders. With this in mind, we can be hopeful that there will eventually be a solution accepted by the civilian population where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace.

The Green Party position is not prescriptive as to what the solution will be, but states “a fair choice needs to be made and accepted by both Israelis and Palestinians for their common future in Palestine.”

Does the Green Party have an equivalent to the Labour Friends of Israel?

No, we do not.

The Jewish organisation is the Jewish Greens, and as part of their constitution they say: “Jewish Greens will not offer a single position on topics such as Israel-Palestine or Zionism and will instead seek to provide a range of opinions.”

They do not want people to feel that they cannot join or would not be welcome with one view or another, which is typical of Green attitudes for many subjects.

I spoke to the Jewish Greens Chair in preparation for this evening to gain insight into the perspective of Jews within the party and she said that Jewish Greens are generally supportive of Green Party policies and statements including all the Press Releases we covered earlier, those include the call for an immediate bilateral ceasefire, immediate release of the hostages, ceasing sales of arms to Israel, sanctions, and upholding international law. From this we could surmise that the organisation is collectively supporting the Green Party message.

Why haven't the Green's spoken up about the environmental damage caused by Israel both through bombing and the deprivation of basic necessities such as water and sanitation over the years?

The policy on Palestine and Israel mentions water and land rights: “The Green Party calls for an end to all and any illegal deprivation of the Palestinians in the occupied territories of the land and water resources pertaining to them.”

It also calls for the implementation of UN resolution 194 which states that compensation for loss or damage to property… should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.

As a civil engineer who knows how long and how much effort and money it takes to design and build the infrastructure for a city, the unrestrained destruction of civilian areas we’ve witnessed is callous and excessive. It will take years for Gaza to recover to where it was before October 2023. So maybe we should be pointing out the environmental damage, but this subject seems less important compared to the loss of human life. An immediate ceasefire is the more urgent message.

What actions have you if any, taken to end the genocide in Gaza?

Not enough and it will never seem like enough whilst the we are still seeing the images of what is happening in Gaza.

Personally, I have been informing myself further about the history of the conflict, so when I have discussed the subject with friends and family, I can bring facts to the conversation. I have just finished the Hundred Year War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi, from which I learnt a lot about the history from before I was born to more recent peace efforts.

I both publicly and privately supported Lara, the outgoing Councillor in Brentford West who left the Labour Party over the party’s response to Gaza.

If I were a Green councillor or MP, I would be able to do more to represent the strength of feeling of the local community about the war in Gaza because I would not be muted by my party. You can see the strength of feeling in the Green Party through the public statements made by our Co-leader Carla Denyer, our MP Caroline Lucas and more locally by Katharine Kandelaki (Green Party candidate for Feltham and Heston) at the march in Hounslow last weekend.